


Hope

by fluffychanel



Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M, Past Mpreg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 14:11:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 58,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8211380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffychanel/pseuds/fluffychanel
Summary: Urahara never really had that sudden parental itch that made him want to settle down and start a whole lineage. But a wild night with Aizen left him six years later with a whole lot more to deal with. UraharaXAizen Warnings: Past Mpreg, troubled children





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> While this story has the twins of Rehabilitate, it is not related to the Detained series at all. It's an idea that I was tempted to put into that series long ago, but it doesn't fit into the storyline at all. And since the idea kind of lingered, I came up with a different storyline all together.
> 
> Timeline is set after canon, around five years after the Quincy war.  
>  ****
> 
> Warnings: M-rated, UraharaXAizen so not the other way around, past Mpreg and troubled children. Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, its characters, storyline, etc. All rights belong to Tite Kubo.
> 
> ****

"When someone comes around at that dreary moment, when all hope was lost, and thorns emerged. And that fellow, walks on that thorn just to cross to your side, to bear the pains for your sake, to bleed, to self-destroy himself, just to protect you. He places you above his priorities, and doesn't give a damn whatsoever taunt he receives, his foremost desire is to make sure you are save, feel loved and cared for, and that's the true definition of love."  
Quote by Michael Bassey Johnson, The Infinity Sign

Normal pov 

_~0~Flashback ~0~_

**Chapter one**

Urahara never really had that sudden parental itch that made him want to settle down and start a whole lineage. The fact that he held no interest in women, of course, also played in on that. 

Sure, he could appreciate womanly curves like any other man, but to actually devote himself to marrying one and giving up on other interests that pertained more towards rock hard bodies, was a little too much. 

He had with other words comforted himself with the thought of leaving his life exactly the way it was right now. Even though it long ago stopped resembling his make-shift family of Tessai and the kids, he was content. 

Tessai had had plans to move out before the Quincy war started—he after all met a human he developed a deeper connection with. It's not until after the war that his friend found his courage to tell Kisuke that he actually would like to start his own family—Away from the shop. 

The blond had told his friend it was okay to do that, Tessai didn't have to live with him forever, he could take care of himself. Even though Tessai had been a little concerned about leaving the blond alone. 

He hadn't been alone, not exactly. Ururu and Jinta had still been around. But they had entered their teenage years. Privacy became a huge issue to the teens and family get-togethers were the last thing on their minds. 

When Ururu entered a steady relationship with the boy she always brought along, Kisuke knew it wouldn't take long before she started to feel that itch. It didn't really come off as a surprise when she moved out, a little after her coming of age. And plans of getting married were already circling around… 

And Jinta, while not in any serious relationship at the moment, was hardly ever home. He spent most of his time at his dorm. 

They hadn't been the only ones whom had moved on from after the war though. Ichigo had put aside that fighter/hero mentality once Inoue became pregnant. Rukia and Renji soon followed their example. 

Even Yoruichi had put aside some of her duties to make room for love, she and Grimmjow became very close a little after the war, and a litter of three was the result. 

Summarizing it up like that, made Kisuke actually reminisce on the times the shop had been overrun with noise and guests, it was just so quiet now…sometimes he even dared to admit that he missed the hectic years of war. 

He couldn't say he was lonely, not really. Nowadays he was seen as a free teacher and babysitter to Ichika, Kazui and Grimmjow and Yoruichi's triplets. All those kids were enough to fill up the house again. 

At the end of the day though, he was glad to return them to their parents. 

No, he really was content. Albeit a little sentimental sometimes, he was by no means calling out for permanent children that would pop up out of nowhere. Which counting his luck, was exactly what happened to him. 

He stood in front of the asylum that was founded for orphans by Mayuri after the war. It was being closed up now and all of the kids were being housed elsewhere after the allegations of scientific experiments turned out to be true. 

The blond was worried about the mental state of the children he would be confronted with. 

While Kira's resurrection was creepy, there was also conflicted moral thoughts whether it was done as an innocent breakthrough in science or an experiment to something darker. Mayuri's common sense had gone completely downhill from then on. 

But to think he would actually be capable of performing tests on children was just below all morality. It made the blond feel guilty, since he was the one whom freed Mayuri from out of prison in the first place. 

Knocking on the door, he was met by Isane whom now led the 4th division. The asylum had multiple members of the medical division running around, tending to the broken children who were at least fit to be placed into a new household. 

And Urahara had a feeling that was exactly why he was here. Isane must have looked into his record, and seen that the blond had rescued Jinta and Ururu out of a similar place, years ago. 

Rehabilitating such children was a feat in itself. You had to have a lot of patience with kids that had never known the warmth of a family, had lost them or been abused by them. He didn't feel like going through that whole ordeal of healing anyone anymore. 

It was just too painful. Especially with these children, that had lost all trust in adults due to his apprentice. Seeing their little faces full of fright and shying away from any touch made the blond sick to his stomach. 

He put a stop to the tour after meeting a child whom had became unrecognizable after the atrocious experiments. "Listen Isane, not that I want to be rude, but I don't see the point of me coming here. I don't have any experience in dealing with traumatized children," Ururu and Jinta weren't this affected by the institute they had inhabited before coming to the Urahara shop. The children there were treated with respect, strict regulations had to be obeyed with, but they weren't physically or mentally scared. "And I prefer to keep it that way." 

"I understand Urahara-san, but there are twins that I would like you to meet." 

The blond held back a sigh of reluctance and followed her, nervous about what he would be presented with this time. While he had seen his fair share of gore and death, that came with being a Shinigami and researcher, there was always the pulling of heartstrings whenever children were involved. 

He was led into a darkened room that held a one way mirror, the other side was lit up and two boys around the age of four were currently occupying that room. One of the kids sat down, silently staring in front of him, while his twin was currently inspecting the boxes that apparently contained some toys. 

"They're six years old, do you notice anything about their appearance?" 

Six?! They didn't look around that age at all. Malnutrition and unhealthy living conditions will do that to a child's growth. 

Looking closer at the child who was staring ahead of him made him aware of the striking resemblance the two had in common with him. Or those sharp cheekbones that were reminiscent of a certain brunet's…wait a second…six years ago?! 

~0~ __

_The war was over, everyone could start fixing themselves, their loved ones or whatever broken pieces that were caused by those long years of devastation. The ruins of buildings could be reconstructed, outwardly any war torn scars could be healed over time. It were the invisible ones that were harder to mend…_

 _

Kisuke looked at Sousuke next to him, eyes that were normally filled with plotting schemes seemed suddenly dimmed. The lackluster demeanor of the other so different from the brilliant brunet. 

"They're going to put me back into Muken." The sentence lacked resentment, and the calmness that resonated off of the other seemed almost a sign of defeat. 

Central 46 was not going to show any mercy towards Aizen, his loyalty in the fight against Bach was not enough to redeem the brunet's long history of malicious practices. Kisuke could understand the mistrust, but was this the proper way of rehabilitating a criminal such as Aizen? Complete isolation doesn't do anyone any good. 

"There's still the offered deal…" the blond trailed off. 

Without the Hogyoku, the danger levels surrounding Aizen would lessen sufficiently. At least enough so the Seireitei might reconsider the brunet's sentence after a couple of years—when no incidents followed that is. 

But the brunet was opposed to the idea. 

The other's soft whispered "You are not taking away my last bit of hope." made Urahara a little worried about him. 

"Are you okay?" 

"Aside from the fact that I will soon be locked up for all eternity, yes." 

The almost desolate tone couldn't hide the blond's grimace anymore. "And here you are, spending your last day of freedom with me." 

"It is the only person I would want to spend it with." 

He looked questionably at the one next to him. 

"Does my desperation of keeping the Hogyoku not give you enough of a hint? And here I thought you were a genius…" the other's taunts could almost be seen as his previous liveliness, where that fire of Aizen to be right about everything burned brighter than ever. 

At his clear confusion, the brunet went on "It is combined by something of yours, you after all put your soul into your research. And something of myself, it became one; an allegory to reveal a hidden meaning…still don't get it? Do I have to revise my opinion of your intelligence?" 

"It just sounds a little strange, are you trying to imply that you're in love with me or something?" the blond had meant it as a joke but Aizen's face didn't exactly light up with amusement. "You did that all out of love?!" Kisuke remarked, more than a little disturbed, he didn't want all of those victims' deaths by the hands of Aizen on his conscience. 

"No, not that. I'm speaking purely about the symbolization the orb holds to me. Hollowfying the Vizards and attacking Soul Society and such had nothing to do with gaining your attention. But, for the longest time I did hold a deep infatuation for you." 

Something told Kisuke that that infatuation probably started at the blond's promotion to captain of the 12th division. "Couldn't you have approached me in…let's say a sane way? Like asking me out for example." 

"I was not planning on doing that. I was too busy with other plans, not with hooking up." 

Yes, too busy creating mutant Shinigami, what a love confession… 

"Do you still…feel this way about me?" 

"I hold a strong sense of admiration towards you, and after all these years I do still think you're attractive. But, is it love? I do not know, perhaps under different circumstances it could have turned into something meaningful." 

True, it's not like they tried communicating on a more personal level. 

"Maybe you should have come and talked to me at the time, you might have been surprised by the answer." He told the brunet in an encouraging way. 

Sousuke had always been a very attractive person, he couldn't deny that. and who knows, it could have had the possibility of turning into something more. Or keeping Aizen away from those dreadful mistakes that would eventually lead to Aizen becoming the traitor they all knew. 

When the brunet looked back at him, Kisuke captured the other’s lips in a kiss that deepened soon enough.

_

~0~ 

The passionate tryst that followed that kiss was still engraved into his memories. Had it been the euphoria that was caused by the end of the war? Or had they both been so starved of physical contact —that for once didn't involve demolishing the opponent—that they both turned to each other for comfort instead? 

It had made the blond see another side of Aizen, uninhibited and without the secured lock on his emotions. It made him almost want to cradle the burnet into his arms, because Aizen looked more vulnerable than the evil he was made out to be. 

The next morning, Aizen snuck out. The blond wouldn't have minded if the other had fled the Seireitei. But he soon learned that Sousuke had been put back into Muken. 

He had tried to reason with Central 46 about a better environment for Aizen, but as the council shoved any acclaims that held some form of praise in regard to Aizen off the table; his advice was ignored. And trying to visit Sousuke had the other resisting the contact for some reason. 

Seeing the twins' amber eyes, it became dauntingly obvious why the other had denied his visits. But why would he keep that from him? The blond knew it was possible due to the Hogyoku. The orb could change internal as well as outward functions of one's body if it served as a purpose to the recipient's desire. 

Had Aizen wanted children? Well, he would have had to, the orb should have gotten the need from someone… or had this been Aizen's way of hope? 

"Are those…?" he pointed at the kids when he began to comprehend the situation. 

"Your children." Finished Isane for him. 

The blond covered his mouth, not fully prepared to embrace such a truth. 

"I think you know who carried them." 

The blond nodded his head, still in shock at the sudden offspring that came seemingly out of nowhere, and the hardships the twins had to have gone through, knowing they were Aizen's kids…not to mention the reputation this asylum had. 

"Are you ready to meet them?" she asked but Kisuke shook his head. 

He moved his hand from his mouth to his forehead, before raking his palm through his hair after taking off his hat. "I need…a moment to sit down." 

The blond stayed in the room when Isane went to get him a glass of water, now sitting down as he watched the kids with a different view, knowing that they were his blood. The kid that sat practically opposite him, had the wall not been in the way, was still focused on his reflection. 

The other child, that was ignored by the one that was seated, had moved on to take a couple of crayons and started drawing on the wall. Kisuke shook his head absentmindedly at the display. They looked so troubled…how was he ever going to begin to connect with them? 

When she brought him the glass of water, he said "Is Aizen still in Muken?" 

He hadn't made any attempt in contacting the other again after a couple of failed visits. 

"Yes." She handed him a case that held the words 'Daichi & Koichi Aizen-Urahara' 

He sighed when he read they were monitored by Mayuri, the twisted bastard held a whole file on Aizen and the twins. And shook his head again at Isane's question if he would like to read it in a brighter room. 

The light from in the other room casted a shimmering shine on the papers, it was enough to see the words. Somehow, something inside of him compelled him to stay where he was, where he could see the twins and not let them out of his sight. 

He skipped over the photos and descriptions of the different stages of pregnancy quickly. Not that it made him uncomfortable seeing the brunet in an expectant state, it was just the sick and twisted representation of being a test subject that angered him. Aizen's expression in them was almost as lifeless as the kid in front of him. 

The twins had been taken away from Sousuke right after the birth, they ended up in the asylum where they were separated from each other. One housed in section five, the other in section twelve. 

The sections correlated to the severity of the tests that were conducted on the children, with one being the worst and twelve the most mild, if you could even use such a positive word for this institution… 

The twin named Daichi had been placed in section five because of the tests that were done to research the child's pressure. It had come to Mayuri's attention that the kid had remnants of the Hokyoku inside of his reiatsu. 

When he turned the page it didn't continue on with the child's logbook that was inserted as additional research. In fact the majority of the pages seemed to be missing. 

"Where is the rest?" Kisuke said, looking at her. 

"Mayuri destroyed a lot of evidence when his experiments were discovered." 

"Why," he could barely contain the anger in his voice. "wasn't I informed of this?!" 

"We didn't know that he had any access to Aizen, no division would normally have any contact with him. And the records of the Rehabilitation Center for Kids naturally didn't include any of the experiments nor their ties to you." 

"Are you telling me that Mayuri could get away unnoticed, with at least six years of experimentation?!" 

She seemed at a loss for words, just as upset by the misconduct. 

He looked back at the twins throughout the glass. "Is this the first time they've seen each other?" 

"Yes, they had no knowledge of each other’s existence." 

The blond stood up, carelessly dropping the file unto the table. "Where's Mayuri now?" 

"He's awaiting his trial, placed in Muken and under complete surveillance." 

"You better hope he's under complete surveillance, because if I get my hands on him…" he warned. 

"Don't do anything now that can jeopardize the kids' chance at a happy family. You want to be there for them, they will need a lot of time to heal. You're not the only one out for revenge on Kurotsuchi, please spend your time in re-establishing a normal structure for your kids." She pressed. 

He realized the importance of ensuring the twins a healthy lifestyle. Central 46 wouldn't hesitate locking him up if he exacted his revenge on the crazy scientist. And with both parents imprisoned, Daichi and Koichi might be re-housed in a different institute that would without a doubt be problematic to their future development. 

"I need to talk to Sousuke." Even if the brunet refused to see him, he would go anyways. They had a lot to talk about. 

"You will need to put in a request at Central 46." 

The second division handled most criminals' cases, but was restrained from doing the same with Aizen's. Otherwise he could have made contact with the other easily, via Yoruichi. Now, it all had to be approved by the noble members whose ancestors were killed by Aizen. 

"Can't you help with it, say it's out of health concern for the kids." 

"Health wise I would first advise you to put the children into a better environment that would comfort them, before introducing them to another parent. We don't know Aizen's current mental state, and the kids do need to get used to you too." 

He heaved a sigh. 

"However, I will file the request, so you have a chance to talk to him." 

"Thank you." 

"Are you ready to meet them now?" 

Well, was he ever going to be ready for this?


	2. Chapter two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't update next week, so I decided to update Hope right now.

**Chapter two**

Another medic besides Isane had to accompany him inside of the room where the twins were placed in. It was someone whom had managed to gain a positive reaction from the kids. 

While the medic approached the children, Kisuke stood awkwardly in the door frame, feeling more like an outsider than family. 

She had knelt down to be at the same height level as them. The twin that had been busy coloring the walls came over to her, the other still ignored everyone. Addressing the boy on the chair, she said "Daichi, will you listen to me for a second, I'd like you to meet someone." 

The boy shrugged his shoulders and continued ignoring her. She turned towards the other twin who was willing to listen and reminded him of how she had already explained the story of their parent coming to pick them up, but proceeded to do the same explanation carefully. 

The slow way she spoke as if they were toddlers, kind of bothered Kisuke and he grimaced at Isane. Was this the right tactic when dealing with traumatized children? They didn't lack intelligence, since the other twin that hadn't been addressed yet —but would have to be Koichi—looked at him curiously. Before the kid stepped into his direction, midway already abandoning the idea of listening to the medic. 

The fast pace at which Koichi approached him, had him thinking the kid was going to hug him. Kisuke didn't know if it had to do with his posture that made the kid stop plainly in front of him. He couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, the one nightstand with Aizen had been just one night of passion, nothing more. He certainly hadn't thought this would come from it. 

It felt a little bit unnatural, even though their reiatsu held an alienated familiarity to it. 

He decided to present himself in a friendlier fashion, it might make them warm up to him. Kneeling also down to Koichi's level— to look less intimidating—the kid gave a spontaneous greeting. 

"Hello, my name is Koichi." 

What was he supposed to answer to that; Hello, I'm your dad? It just made the situation even more awkward, so instead he settled with a simple "Hey," 

The kid was examining him, in an almost scrutinizing way. 

"Do I qualify as a dad in your opinion?" he wondered briefly if they even understood the basic concept of parents, family or a home. 

"No." the kid said honestly, and still as spontaneous. "But, I like it." He added. 

Kisuke smiled, he was glad that the little one returned it brightly. Something told him that Koichi was going to be a lot easier than Daichi. 

He looked over at the other twin, that had his hands covering his ears, blocking out the noise from the medic, whom was still trying to explain the situation to the kid. When she lightly touched Daichi's arm to gain his attention, the kid all but lashed out to the 4th division's member, slapping her hand away, clearly enforced by reiatsu. 

The power level radiating off of the kid worried him. He was going to have to be taught how to control that pressure in a proper way, and lose some of that pent up energy so it didn't bottle up. 

"It's okay," Kisuke spoke up. "he doesn't have to come to me." 

Urahara approached the other child, whose sullen expression centered on him, and carefully sat down on a nearby chair. "You'll be freed out of this…" hell-hole might not be an exactly appropriate term to use in front of them. "…institute, and finally have a chance at a family." 

It sounded foreign, these kids that he wasn't aware of, that in any other position would have been seen as strangers, had he not been informed of their blood ties to him. If the sudden revelation held already such a big impact on him, it would have to leave an even bigger impression on them. The twins didn't know what normal life included, never experienced it. 

Ururu and Jinta had been quite estranged from the orphanage they came from, and their institution had been fairly normal. 

Daichi's narrowed eyes, pronounced by the angry look; seemed almost an exact copy of Aizen's. The shape resembling the brunet's completely. He couldn't discern who's eye shape Koichi inherited, it looked like more of a mix. 

While their eye shape wasn't the only dissimilarity between them, you could still see they were twins. They both had the same color of eyes; a light amber with what appeared a couple of specks of gray in it along the edge. And both of them had identical dirty blond hair. 

"Do you still need to pack anything?" Kisuke asked the children. 

They would naturally come along with him, it's not like he had much of a choice. Sure, he could make it easy on himself and walk out of the twins' lives. But, he had to take his responsibility. Even if he never asked for this, the children certainly didn't ask to be neglected. 

The two darker blond heads kind of cocked to the side in confusion. 

Guess they didn't really own anything here. The black hakama they wore, was clearly too big for them, the same for the matching samue top. Such a dark color for children… 

Koichi attempted to pick up the crayon from the floor, questioning Kisuke if he could have it. 

Urahara looked at the broken piece of wax. "Uh…we'll buy you some new ones." Maybe it was better if they started over completely, with no objects that reminded them of their horrible past. 

The kid threw it promptly back on the ground. 

Isane went over to him, a clipboard in her hands as she pointed out the sort of schedule the children had been used to. 

Section five consisted of a long hallway, full of singular bedrooms and one giant lab used for tests. The children in that ward were only kept in their room, not seeing the outside of that department or the lab. 

While Koichi had been more or less accustomed to what was considered a habitual routine. Section twelve housed kids together in dorms, boys and girls separate. Communal bathrooms and an actual canteen, plus small classrooms for daily lessons. 

It became obvious that Daichi's behavior was a result of a lack of socialization. 

"You might be tempted to let them do as they please for a while, we see that a lot with families that adopt traumatized children. But it is crucial that they get familiarized with a routine immediately, to spare a fallout that might follow." 

Kisuke wasn't exactly an expert, but his experience with Jinta and Ururu told him as much. All kids needed structure. 

"Do you think you're up for it?" she asked while studying his expression. 

Even if he wasn't exactly certain of his decision, he couldn't turn back now, his conscience wouldn't forgive himself. 

"You'll have to sign a couple of papers, I'll take them with me in two days when I come over to check up on you and the twins. Do you still need anything or have any questions?" 

"Not at the moment." 

"Just be careful with Daichi, he has a very explosive personality." 

He had witnessed that, not that it was the kid's fault though. 

When he held out both of his hands, he hadn't expected either of the two to take it, they weren't really used to being guided by a parental figure. Koichi even inspected his hand questionably. "Right…" he laughed awkwardly. "Just, come along I guess." 

Kisuke waited for a second when neither of the twins made any motion to accompany him. He was beginning to wonder if he would have to carry them or coax them in some way to come along, but Daichi and Koichi trudged after him, a little behind Kisuke's steps. The two kids held a large distance between each other, no bond or deeper connection present as most twins usually had. Daichi almost plainly denied the other’s existence with an aloof attitude. 

He didn't want to linger too long in the Rehabilitation Center with the kids, going through the huge complex, the shopkeeper therefore quickly passed the connected wings that led into the different sections. But still at a pace that he was sure the kids could follow. 

Once outside he could generate a Senkaimon to transfer to his shop, while he shouldn't resort to unofficial ways to travel between the worlds —now that his reputation had been restored— it was still the most useful. That, and taking the kids on a trek through the whole of Soul Society didn't seem like the best option either. 

Setting up the portal, he was about to instruct the kids but stopped when he saw their reaction to the outside. Their sheltered life had them never experiencing the open air. Daichi was shielding his eyes from the intrusive light, and Koichi had literally started petting the grass, truly amazed by the texture. 

They were so mind blown by simple things, it was somehow both alarming and fascinating at the same time. 

Letting them have their moment, he waited a little before helping them through the gate. Without actually physically aiding Daichi, since the kid had glared at him the moment he stretched out a hand near him. 

With both of them standing in the huge field of his basement, he said a quirky "Well, welcome home I guess." 

They looked around at the terrain that stretched out as far they could see. 

"Is this your house?" he spotted the poorly concealed disappointment in Koichi's voice. 

Urahara laughed, "It would be quite odd if this would be my permanent residence. I don't think I look as if I live in a cave." the disparaging remark was used in a way to break the silence after Koichi's comment. 

Both of the twins looked at him oddly, Daichi even blew the bangs that hung in his face out of the way in an irritated manner. 

"Right…" why was it so painful? He never remembered having such difficulty trying to break the ice with Ururu and Jinta. 

Going up the ladder and showing them where they would be living from now on, had the twins still trudging after him awkwardly. As if he was guiding a tour for outsiders through a museum. 

Of course he shouldn't expect them to feel instantly at home. But the way they were looking around, not really poking anything or asking questions, like most children would, was difficult to get used to. Quietly looking around, looking more than a little on edge made Kisuke feel slightly uneasy too. 

"Perhaps you're hungry or thirsty." 

The kids kept looking at him, after it was clear he was waiting on an answer, Koichi answered "No, thank you." 

"Okay…" he proceeded to show them the kitchen anyways, and remarked that they could get anything out of the fridge without asking. He added that explicitly, since he was sure that they weren't used to such liberty. Luckily he had beverages that were appropriate for children, the flavored milk cartons almost dominated other ingredients inside of the cooler. Babysitting everyone's offspring came in handy now. 

When he saw one of the kids fiddling with the loose threads of his sleeve, he considered taking them out to shop. He first had to create gigai, though. And that would mean he would need to busy himself with the creations for a while. 

He couldn't exactly leave them alone in the house or take the twins with him to his lab. The latter distraction would most likely trigger unwanted memories. So, what was the best way to distract them? 

His eyes landed on the guestroom that now was used as a playroom or for sleepovers, it might also be perhaps the right way to break the tension. 

Urahara opened the toy box when they remained standing silently inside of the guestroom. "…you can enjoy yourselves now, play, read…can you read?" he muddled after the brief summarization. 

"Yes." At Koichi's response, he looked at the other one. 

"And you Daichi?" the kid looked almost offended at being addressed to, crossed his arms over each other and answered him with a sullen look. "I guess that qualifies as a yes." He muttered. 

Sorting through the toy chest, he took out certain items that were best not left in the hands of the twins. The toy zanpakuto weren't deadly by any means, but Daichi wasn't exactly raised with the motto of 'Play nice and share.' The kid might get annoyed at his twin and unexpectedly attack. 

"Do you think you can keep yourselves busy while I work on something?" it wasn't really responsible to leave them alone, but it wasn't like he was going out of the house, just down into his basement. He would be nearby and could keep track of their reiatsu. If their distress levels increased he would be back here with just a flash-step. 

And calling someone over to babysit them might unnerve them even more. All those new faces…the twins might even be glad to be alone for a second. Have a chance to adjust a little. 

When Koichi nodded, Kisuke reiterated their options. "…I think I even have some puzzles lying around or som-" 

"Can I color?" Koichi interrupted him without hesitation. 

"Sure," actually he hadn't encountered a coloring book or any crayons. Kisuke rechecked to verify his statement. He didn't fill the toy chest, Inoue and Rukia had concerned themselves with that, deeming most of Kisuke's self-made inventive toys too dangerous. 

When he informed the twin on the lack of colored pencils, the kid said "No colors at all?" 

At the almost aghast expression, Kisuke remarked "Well, I do have pencils, but none of them are fit for coloring, unless you want to draw something colorless." he mused. 

"That's okay." At the kid's somewhat reserved enthusiasm, he went to get some paper and some pencils. 

When he handed them over, he remembered to warn the kid to not to draw on the walls, like he had seen the little one doing in the institute. He held out the spare ones to his brother, but Daichi simply turned his back on him. 

He really wasn't getting any positive acknowledgment from that kid, no matter what he tried. Showing excitement or interest in him was plainly glared away. If he didn't know any better, he would think the child was mute. 

By measuring their height and size —well, Koichi's since Daichi avoided him— for the proper proportions of the gigai, Kisuke learned that despite Kazui being a year younger, he was at least five centimeters taller than the twins. 

And estimating the twins' difference in height, he guessed that Daichi even differed a couple of centimeters from his brother. Height and weight wise the child had to be below average required for a kid at that age. 

He didn't take that long to work on their gigai, after an hour he figured it was best to check up on them again, and leave working on the finishing touches for the make-shift bodies for the next day. 

Approaching the room, it was kind of silent, the way he left it. Daichi was still oddly standing in the middle of the room. Koichi at least had started rummaging through the chest. 

Upon seeing him, the most enthusiastic of the two shoved a drawing into his hands, coupled with an almost cheerful "I made it for you!" 

Kisuke's intuition envisioned a disturbed picture that should resemble the kid's tormented vision on the feeling of happiness. Or something along the lines of that. Instead, he was pleasantly surprised by drawn stick figures that should represent him and the twins. The kid even drew his hat. 

He chuckled. Not because of the oddly shaped figures, he was used to that, what with Ichika's drawing talents of Chappy and Seaweed. But out of gratification of leaving some sort of positive impression on one of them. 

It should only be a matter of time with Daichi. 

-0- 

He had questioned the kids' favorite food, and soon learned that the twins were only used to rice. It's the only ingredient they seemed to recognize. Deciding that the two were long since due for some nutrition, he made hotpot. The steaming broth held a variety of vegetables and meat. So they could manually choose whatever they wanted. 

They looked with big eyes at all that was laid out on the table. "Is that all for us?" queried Koichi in sheer amazement. 

Maybe he had laid out too many choices options, since they seemed rather overwhelmed. 

"We have to eat it all?!" Daichi's sudden cry would have startled the shopkeeper on the fact that the other finally spoke up, were it not for the other’s voice that held a crack that signaled the kid was about to cry. 

Koichi reassured his twin. "We don't have to eat everything." he turned to Urahara. "Do we?" 

"No, just take what you like and eat until you've had enough." Explained Kisuke soothingly, while the kid's expression turned back into a frown when Koichi laughed. 

Daichi's sudden mood swing didn't seem so funny to Kisuke. The strong emotions towards dinner insinuated something else. 

Kisuke helped them with their plates, not really trusting them near the boiling pot. He gave them a bit of everything since they didn't seem to be able to choose. 

Their table manners differed completely. Koichi was apparently used to chopsticks and while not accustomed to the different array of foods, still curiously tried everything on his plate. 

Daichi looked somewhat lost at what to do with his utensils. And after all but stabbing one chopstick in a piece of meat, threw the utensils at his brother when the other twin laughed again. Koichi in retaliation wanted to do the same with his own utensils, so Kisuke came in between both. 

Which had him ducking Daichi's kicks aimed in the air at them. "Hey, hey calm down." The child's feisty attitude worsened when he tried to capture his legs, to hold back any more kicks in his or Koichi's direction. 

Daichi's angry demeanor lessened when he placed Koichi at the other end of the table, out of his brother's reach, and gave the child a spoon so it made it a little easier for the kid to consume his food. 

The shopkeeper had also chided Koichi about laughing at his brother's difficulty in everyday habits. He hadn't been sure how the child would take the scolding, but the enthusiastic twin had responded with a "I won't do it again." 

The rest of dinner went thankfully without any other incidents. In the end though Daichi only ate a bit of his rice, and left all of the other ingredients untouched. It was best to take that course with Daichi very slowly… 

While setting up their beds he had contemplated giving them separate rooms, as reaction to the explosive twin's behavior. But figured the child had to get used to socializing with others, be lenient now and the little one would get used to it. 

"I sleep with a light." Daichi remarked softly when Kisuke was all but done setting up their room. 

He had told them that they could enjoy themselves until bedtime, but they remained trudging after the shopkeeper, completely at a loss of what to do with their spare time. They followed him everywhere around the house, even when he searched into the small closet room —that held mostly useless supplies he had no imminent need for—they cramped themselves with him, inside of the closet space. 

"Ichika and Kazui don't sleep with a light night anymore, but I'm sure I have some lying around here somewhere…" he muttered to no one in particular. 

"Maybe you have colors here." Said Koichi casually, promptly beginning to help look throughout all the stuff. Which basically meant unloading all of the racks. 

"Uh…could you not do that?" Kisuke questioned the kid. 

The room might not be exactly organized, but throwing everything on the floor wasn't really helping the tiny space's cluttered state. 

The child simply kept removing everything from the rack, replying with a stubborn "But, I'm looking for colors." Now, the previous compliant twin was showing a bit of obstinate behavior. 

Kisuke went to the kid's eyelevel, manually stopping his actions. It seemed the right approach compared to raising his voice. "Koichi," he began. "You don't have to-" stopping midsentence, he realized that the child's actions of sorting through his stuff had involuntarily led to finding the night light. 

Before he could grab the light though, it was snatched from under his nose by the one whom had been supposedly looking for colors. The child hid it behind his back. 

Kisuke chuckled and asked Koichi to hand it over. 

It earned the shopkeeper an obstinate "No!" 

He raised a brow at the other’s sudden twist in personality. "Why not?" 

"Because." 

He wasn't going to engage in childish banter, arguing with a child wasn't really beneficial for a good outcome. Yoruichi and Grimmjow's triplets made him understand that… 

"That is not an answer, why won't you hand me over the light?" 

Koichi wasn't meeting his eyes, purposely looking away from him. 

Daichi was still standing rigidly by the door, though Koichi's obstinate behavior had gained the twin's attention. 

"Because!" the kid repeated resolutely. "No colors, no light." 

"Listen, I told you; you would get some new ones tomorrow, after we go shopping. We'll get you some crayons then, okay?" Kisuke negotiated, holding his hands out for the light expectantly. 

"You promise?" 

The blond smiled and promised the kid. 

"But, I can't sleep with a light." Koichi complained. 

"I have a solution to that." 

Koichi looked at him warily, before finally handing over the light. 

Without separating the kids, he put a room divider in between their futon, providing the children with the needed privacy, but at the same time teaching Daichi the importance of interacting with others. 

He was glad when they were finally tucked into bed, that he at least had survived the first day of being a parent. It still sounded odd, but somehow the busy lifestyle of full time dad was beginning to appeal to him. Maybe this is what he missed all along; also a normal structure for himself.


	3. Chapter three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have little time to type up my chapters of Deceptive Perceptions at the moment, so instead I will update those stories that still have chapters in stock so to speak.

**Chapter Three**

The shopkeeper still woke up in the middle of the night, he felt a sudden pressing bout of concern to check up on the twins. 

While the kids had gone to bed rather easily, Koichi had griped about his inability to fall asleep as long as the room wasn't decked out in complete darkness. But, after being able to have his say, was apparently the first one to fall asleep. The child's heavy breathing sounded throughout the room. 

His twin on the other hand, sat upright, wide awake. 

"You can't sleep?" asked Kisuke quietly. 

Daichi averted his gaze from him, fiddling with his blanket. 

"Come, I know a good ritual that will solve your restlessness." Warm milk with honey stimulated just the right senses. 

The kid didn't follow him instantly, but as he was preparing the drink he heard light footsteps approaching. 

"It's a miracle cure, and healthy to boot, try it." He urged cheerfully. 

He saw the kid trying it, without giving any sort of indication whether he liked it or not. But, he figured the other approved of it, since he kept sipping the liquid. 

"Can't sleep because of the new environment?" 

Daichi shook his head. 

Kisuke didn't press it any further, he didn't want the little one becoming uncomfortable. It was at least positive that he received some form of response from him. He sat there in silence, enjoying a glass of honey flavored milk, until the kid returned to bed. 

When he woke up and opened his eyes a second time, he was met by Koichi looming over his face, examining him. Normally it took a while before Urahara finally woke up, but he was completely wide awake after that. 

"Hello!" came the energetic greeting. The child was full of energy, so early in the morning. "I let out your pet!" 

Pet? He had no…wait a sec. "You mean a cat?" 

Koichi nodded his head. "It's out in the rain now." he said eagerly. 

The shopkeeper sprang out of his futon, quickly running to the backdoor, where he was met by Yoruichi's not so happy cat form, completely drenched. 

Koichi practically chortled as the wet animal strode back inside. 

Anticipating his friend's transition into a humanoid form, Kisuke held out a bathrobe to cover up her nudeness. 

He heard her irritated voice give out a "Why you little…" before all went quiet. 

They both looked at each other, completely dumbstruck. For Koichi it was probably the first time he saw an animal transform into a human. As for Yoruichi, she definitely didn't expect to be greeted with an unfamiliar face that held a striking resemblance to her friend. Of course, she demanded answers immediately. 

He had first coaxed Koichi to go and awake his twin, the explanation was best given out, out of their earshot. 

"He's awake." Came the defiant reply. 

Daichi probably didn't want to show up, knowing it was time to eat. "Tell him I'm making rice." Fried rice with little pieces of egg and bacon, not that he was going to inform him of that. When Koichi finally left to get his brother, Kisuke turned to his friend. 

"What happened?" was asked as a diversion, a tactful approach to avoid the subject of the kid's lineage. 

"I was sleeping peacefully on the dryer, when I was suddenly grabbed by the scruff of my neck and flung outside. Don't avoid the question, though." She warned. 

"They are…" there really was no easy approach to this, and sooner or later the world was going to find out, "They're my kids." it was best to be straightforward. 

"Since when are you straight?" came her plain question. 

He responded that his sexuality hadn't changed. 

"Are they…" she made a general hand motion in the direction of his crotch. 

"Generated through my seed? Yes, they're biologically my kids." 

"Are they test tube-" she began in an accusatory tone, which was expected, what with Kurotsuchi's malpractices coming to light, so he cut her off quickly. "Then who's the other parent?" 

Kisuke scratched the back of his head and mumbled Aizen's name fast under his breath, she heard it all the same. 

"Aizen!" she yelled while the twins appeared in the door frame. "How did you, you know…" she made another motion with her hands. 

Kisuke glanced at the two kids. "Not now." he began preparing their breakfast while they took a place at the table. Yoruichi and the twins were eyeing each other in the mean time. 

"Kisuke, you sly dog." She remarked while he gave her a look. "Haven't been careful enough and still thought you could keep your paternity a secret? You can't deny it though." 

"I wasn't planning to, I was only informed of their existence, yesterday. When I was called over by Isane." He said expressively. 

Her eyes widened a little before they formed an almost pitying look. "Oh, Kisuke." she said sadly. 

"I know." He replied, as woefully. 

The depressing mood was unceremoniously broken by Koichi. "My brother wants to see you as a cat." 

"Do not!" yelled the other twin. 

"Do too!" 

"Alright," his friend said, knowing like no other how to break up verbal sibling wars. "I think it's you who wants to see my cat form again." She said knowingly to Koichi. 

The deliberate tone had the twin replying with a sudden bashful "Yeah…" 

"All you had to do was ask." As she was about to take off the bathrobe, Kisuke cleared his throat. She rolled her eyes. "They might be able to learn something." 

"Yoruichi." he scolded lightly as she disappeared while muttering "…Already going full dad-mode on me." 

He could admit; since knowing he fathered two children; he felt more responsibility. Or maybe that was just his male ego. Because Yoruichi hadn't changed at all while becoming a mother. 

She appeared a bit later as a black cat. And when she started talking in that estranged voice, Daichi looked wide eyed at Kisuke. 

"You'll get used to it." He added as encouragement. 

Koichi, after recovering from his initial embarrassment, went over to pet her. Admitting freely "You're weird." 

"I would say, 'wow, children’s' comprehension starts at an early age already' but, they do come from very clever parents." 

Kisuke's statement received a catty "Very funny." 

"In class there was a kid with a fish face," Koichi's abrupt declarations kept being uttered in that blunt way. 

Children and their straight forwarded revelations…it's a pity that outspoken personality gets dimmed over time with most Souls. 

"You remind me of him." 

Although, sometimes it was best it diminished, it could get frank rather quickly. 

The cat's male voice answered in an equally candid tone "You're one cheeky brat, I wonder who you inherited that from…" 

-0- 

He had taken the kids to the store a couple of blocks down the street, the one that catered more towards youths. The boutique held a wide range of children's' clothes. The last time entering the store was without a doubt unforgettable, and not in a 'fit for a second time' kind of way. 

Ichika and Kazui had ran off in different directions, making a lot of noise and generally not listening. So this time, he had asked Yoruichi to accompany him with the twins, unfortunately, she had business to take care of in the Seireitei. 

The twins weren't exactly those rambunctious scamps, but their somewhat foreign look on daily tendencies made them a little absent. On their way towards the boutique, they had taken in the outside world with eyes full of surprise, completely blown away. 

Right now, they stood awkwardly next to Kisuke as he looked through the racks. "I don't really know what you prefer to wear." He held out a denim overalls questionably. It was easily readable on Daichi's face that the kid hated it. 

"It's so bright." Judged Koichi. 

Kisuke looked at the clothing piece in his hands curiously. "You think so?" 

The two darker blond heads nodded simultaneously in agreement. 

He wasn't exactly fashionable, most would call his sense of style eccentric, how was he ever going to help the kids to dress up in something that matched? Yoruichi would have already come in handy now. 

Showing a neutral colored shirt, the kids disapproved of it again. When a third outfit was also rejected, he told them "Okay, you know what, we'll just take the clothes that the mannequins wear, what do you think of those? You can't criticize them, they're normally supposed to attract customers." 

Going over to one of the models, made Koichi suddenly notice a black skull T-shirt. "Can I have that?" 

"They're not in your size." Kisuke said without checking the tag. The kid seemed to be showing more interest in the clothes in the teenage department…and such a dark color again. 

"But, I want it anyways." 

"It won't fit." He called over the other again when the twin kept standing by the skull T-shirt. 

Not that Koichi actually listened. 

Deciding it was best to leave the stubborn twin where he was, —the kid would eventually conform after a while of cooling down— he asked the silent twin's thoughts on the clothes that were displayed. 

The kid gave a mixture of a nod of approval and negation, Urahara raised a brow at his indecisiveness. "What is that?" he asked. "What does that mean?" 

Daichi repeated the mixed signal. 

"We'll take it." Concluded Kisuke in the child's place. He was beginning to think; patience was a virtue that applied to all children. 

He didn't want to be the kind of parent that decided everything for their kids, without letting them have a say in it. However, if they both remained inconclusive, the shop would close without having a selection for their wardrobe. 

It was already near closing time after all. Persuading Daichi to eat anything took up longer than he had anticipated, the same for explaining the gigai and trying them on. 

Kisuke turned around suddenly when the tell tale sound of clothing hangers falling to the ground, resounded through the store. 

Koichi had yanked the skull shirt from its position in the rack, dragging the rest of the clothes that hung up along with it. "Can I have it now?" he asked innocently. 

He was bent on getting what he wanted, wasn't he? 

Resolving to not let his agitation seep through, he instructed the kid to hang up everything again. Though his irritation did bubble up when the other twin had started to undress the mannequin, unaware that the displayed clothes were not for sale. 

His resigned nature was normally a lot more even tempered, even with kids. But with all the unforeseen challenges thrown his way, Urahara's tolerance kind of snapped. Chiding the kid, his voice therefore came off a little brass. 

The child dropped the dummy immediately, avoiding eye contact. 

After redressing the doll, Kisuke went over to the stubborn twin, rearranging the clothes himself since Koichi wasn't about to anytime soon. Taking the kid's desired shirt out of his hands, he articulated "You are not getting the shirt, in a few years perhaps when you're older, but not right now. Can you live with that?" the child shook his head in a negative way. "Well, too bad, you're going to have to anyway." 

Hanging the shirt back up, he steered Koichi back into the children's department, only to come to the conclusion that Daichi wasn't standing there anymore. Doing a quick search for the twin, he was nowhere near in sight. The child even had a good grip on concealing one's pressure. 

Asking his brother, made Koichi give out a mischievous "Maybe." 

"Either you know or you don't know." 

The kid's clarification made it instantly clear what he was trying to accomplish. "Do I get the shirt?" 

"No." Kisuke said, resolutely while the other retorted with a "Then I won't tell." 

He opted to let Daichi's name be called out at the register instead. Maybe Daichi would voluntarily show up at the call of his name. 

"What's your relation to him?" the cashier boringly asked while grabbing the microphone. 

"His…dad." Repeating it many times would eventually get Kisuke used to the sound of it, he hoped at least. 

No Daichi showed up though, his twin did appear, with the shirt back in his hands. It was becoming a far from an amusing situation, but Kisuke chuckled at the little one's persistence anyhow. "Do you have that in his size?" he questioned the cashier, just to indulge the kid. 

She gave him a look that spelled 'Really?' "No, we don't." 

It didn't dissuade Koichi, who continued to prove the shirt's functionality. He took off the rag that consisted of his samue top, and slipped on the T-shirt. It slipped from the kid's shoulder, whom suddenly seemed to realize that it was a couple of sizes too big. 

"Oh…" he said sheepishly. 

"Oh indeed." Koichi smiled that bashful smile again, before putting his own top on again and dropping the other one to the ground. When Kisuke bent down to pick it up, he coincidentally found the other twin, hidden underneath a clothing stand. 

When he approached him, Daichi turned his head to face away from him. "There you are, what are you doing there?" he questioned. The kid flattened himself, if possible, even more to the ground. "You can't be comfortable like that, come out from underneath." Was encouraged buoyantly. 

His cheerful tone made Urahara come to the conclusion that raising his voice had made Daichi a little spooked, since he voiced his concern with a soft "You're not angry?" 

"Why would I-?" he had definitely overreacted with the mannequin. "No, of course not." The kid turned to look at him, studying his expression carefully. 

"Come, you're squished to the ground. Just because you're wearing a rag doesn't mean you have to act like one." He joked, before the kid slowly crawled out from under the stand. 

Registering that he needed to change his method in coaxing the two, he persuaded them to choose clothing for themselves. Albeit in a more kid-friendly manner. Which meant accepting whatever style they wanted, even if their choice options leaned more towards darker colors. 

Being a bit more indulgent, he could get a better grasp at understanding them. Their personalities had developed for the most part already, he couldn't force a change in them. 

What he could do on the other hand was listen and give advice where needed. 

The result when exiting the store was that the twins each had accepted a couple of pieces that weren't their first choice, but had fit in their taste somehow. 

Back at home, they followed him around again. 

As a distraction and partially a valuable source of information, he introduced them to the TV. He would probably regret that later, when he couldn't shoo them away from the box that showed animated pictures anymore. The Jaggerjaques triplets were clustered in front of it, practically the whole time Yoruichi brought them along. 

Seeing his twins’ reactions, that wasn't about to occur any time soon. 

Daichi complained about a headache from the moving images and turned his back to the TV, while Koichi began showing interest in the color book and crayons they had bought. Deciding to the turn the TV off at Daichi's irritation, Koichi switched to watching TV in an instant, claiming he had been watching that. 

Despite having told them to grab anything out of the cooler on their own, they still didn't make a general move towards the fridge. He gave them both a small bottle of water so they got some liquid down. 

He carefully sat down near Daichi, the kid glanced at him through his bangs that hung in his eyes. 

"If you want to play with anything, go ahead, you don't need my permission." 

The kid sat in seiza position facing the back of the couch so as to avoid the Television. 

"I'd imagine sitting down a whole day, staring at nothing would be quite dull. Something must catch your atten-" the child unceremoniously covered up his ears again. "Why is he doing that?" Kisuke asked Daichi's brother, as if the kid had all the answers. 

"He doesn't like it when you repeat things." 

"I know, it must be annoying to hear that all over again. How about we look for something we can do together?" it would coax the kid into keeping himself busy with something he liked. "Maybe we can begin with drawing, your brother seems to like that." 

But as soon as he grabbed the pencil case and presented it in front of Daichi the kid yelled 

"No!" and slapped it out of his hands violently, the pencils slipping out and falling to the ground had Koichi start laughing. 

"Don't make fun of your brother." Chided Kisuke. 

"I wasn't, I was making fun of you." Admitted Koichi happily. 

The child definitely had a sharp tongue. Koichi needed to learn that such snippy remarks weren't appreciated by everyone. 

Urahara decided it was best to leave Daichi in that sulking state. 

Bit by bit, he was going to need to teach the two how to properly behave, but it couldn't be done instantly and definitely not forcefully. He was observing their behaviors for now. 

"Does either of you want to take a bath before I start dinner?" 

Daichi promptly covered his ears again when he mentioned food. 

At Koichi's curiosity, he proceeded to show the kid. "After you take a shower, you can hop right into the bathtub." 

The kid's curiosity soon turned into disinterest. "I don't like swimming." 

"The tub is a little too small for that, a bath is meant to relax." 

Daichi, whom had followed him the moment he stood up, dipped one hand into the water, the other still covering one ear. 

Kisuke had a feeling he did actually hear everything that was being said, and the action was just a simple show of defiance, nothing more. When Kisuke asked "Warm, isn't it?" Urahara received a nod in return, coupled with a soft demand of "I want to take a bath." 

"Sure," before leaving the kid in the bathroom he asked hesitatingly "Can you wash yourself and remember how to operate the shower?" 

As per usual the little one didn't give out any verbal indication that he could. Urahara turned to his twin, forgetting that Koichi didn't know anything about his brother either. Koichi shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Right…Just don't lock the door." He said, fearing they might lock themselves in or he couldn't reach them if anything happened. 

He found himself back on the couch with Koichi on the ground, continuing his drawing. 

"Your pet." The kid showed him a picture of a dog that he had colored in the same colors as Yoruichi's cat form. 

"Yeah, but the animal in the picture is a dog." He informed the other. 

"It's a cat!" was the other’s defiant response. 

"No, you see those ears…" he was about to point out that no feline had such droopy ears, when the kid put the book out of his reach purposefully. "Koichi, let me point out something." 

The kid went all the way to the other side of the room, scratching something out rather furiously. 

Okay, maybe he was too hard on the little one, it could be just the kid's imagination. It was just a drawing after all, but at six years old, he should know the difference. 

Koichi showed it to him a second time, the dog's long ears crossed out harshly, tearing the paper here and there and on top of his head; self drawn cat ears. 

"Oh yeah," Kisuke agreed. "now I see it." Koichi smiled cheerfully. 

Reaching for the remote, the kid protested the channel being changed. He raised a brow as the child told him how he had been watching the show on TV again. Which happened to be a shopping network. 

The child's persistence was something he had to work on too. 

"I highly doubt you're watching that." 

"Yes." Said Koichi. 

It made Kisuke ponder what the kid responded positively to. "Yes…you doubt that too?" 

The kid sighed in an annoyed tone. "Yes, I'm watching that." 

"Right." Responded Kisuke in disbelief, but left the channel stationed on the current program. 

The kid had only pretended to be interested in the item they were selling on TV for exactly five seconds before averting his attention back to the picture book. Turning a couple of pages, even though he hadn't finished his 'cat' picture yet. And drew the next animal in the same black color. Kisuke briefly wondered why he had given the child all those colors, when Koichi remained using only the darkest one. 

Deeming the kid distracted enough by his drawing, he changed the channel. When the little one realized after a couple of minutes that it wasn't the same channel anymore, he looked at Kisuke. 

"Your program ended." The shopkeeper informed him, which seemed to be okay to Koichi. 

After a hour and a half the other twin was still in the bath. Beginning to get a little worried, he decided to check up on him. The moment he entered the bathroom, Daichi cried out "Don't look!" 

Kisuke held a hand in front of his face to do the kid a favor. "I'm sorry," he said sheepishly. "You're taking an awful long time to bathe, are you okay?" 

"Yes." Was mumbled. 

Peeking a look to make sure, the kid was almost fully submerged into the water. Practically the only visible features of Daichi were his nose and eyes. 

Kisuke chuckled amusedly, glad that the kid was finally showing an interest in something. Maybe he should take them swimming, when they've acclimated a little more. And when he managed to persuade Koichi… 

A bit later, Daichi appeared into the living room. The six year old had managed to dress himself in the modern clothes voluntarily, only his shirt was worn inside out. And the track from the bathroom to the living room had left a trail of wet splashes, due to his feet not being completely dry. 

He should probably repeat the use of the bathroom slippers, well formulated in a different manner so it didn't bore the temperamental twin. 

"You must be hungry now." said Kisuke knowingly. 

Not expecting a response, he decided to involve the kids in the process of preparing meals. Engaging them positively in something they could do together. And simultaneously encourage Daichi in a fun and educational way to taste different ingredients might generate an interest in food. 

It didn't exactly have a counterproductive result, but it didn't fully lead to his desired goal either. Daichi, while aiding him in the preparation, didn't show an interest in sampling any of the ingredients. Koichi on the other hand needed to try and savor every piece, but without doing any of the required labor. 

He had to stop the curious twin from eating most of the fruits that were meant for the fruit salad, after the main course. It stopped being sampling after you've had a few. 

If he managed to incorporate their assistance like this, it would eventually lead to a positive influence. Even in Daichi. 

It was not until he questioned them whether they preferred meat or fish for the dumplings that he lost Daichi's interest and evoked a quarrel between the two, since they both disagreed on what they wanted. 

Kisuke came back into the kitchen, —after disappearing for only a couple of minutes to get both fish and meat from the freezer— to be greeted by the two's even more fierce quarrel that by now resembled a tennis match. The back and forth of 'yes, it does' and 'no, it doesn't' was getting louder by each statement, trying to drown out the other’s voice. 

Before food started to fly around, he calmly asked what was wrong. 

Koichi still yelled his own statement, pointing a finger in Daichi's direction at the same time. "Daichi says meat is made from Souls, which it is not!" 

"Yes, it is." Nodded Daichi at Kisuke. 

Kisuke told Koichi to calm down when the kid was about to start his own bout of claiming his statement all over again. 

Suddenly all went quiet when Kisuke went over to Daichi, softly inquiring where he got his affirmation on Souls being used for consumption. Unless they were talking about Hollows or Shinigami who might have lost it, no Death God resorted to cannibalism. He didn't want to draw any conclusion without certainty. 

Daichi's face was averted from his, glaring at the meat in his hands. 

He tried again, coaxing the other to respond. "Who told you this?" when he received no response, he tried to snap the kid's gaze away from the product in his hands by coming to the other’s eye level. 

Daichi's eyes avoided his gaze entirely by then and he simply walked out of the kitchen. 

The little one's upsetting explanation made the shopkeeper abandon the idea of using meat for the dumplings. Which wasn't to Koichi's liking. 

"But! It's not a Soul!" 

Oh, he knew that, but the twin's difficulty with food already speculated a negative experience. Kisuke just hoped and prayed it wasn't in the form of cannibalism. 

Would Mayuri really be that crazy? 

Maybe it had been just a scary story told to the kids, which wasn't exactly better, but less haunting. 

After the preparations he had to go look for Daichi when the kid had hidden himself away again. For the kid's sake, meat was going to be canceled out of any meal, for now. 

-0- 

The second night hadn't gone as smoothly as the first one either. 

Koichi, after not getting what he wanted, started to torment his brother by turning off the night light constantly. 

He had warned the kid, he would receive a time out, if he kept bothering his brother. Since Daichi reacted violently whenever his brother succeeded in turning off the light. The shopkeeper had walked in on Koichi being suffocated by his pillow the second time it had happened. It was by no means playful banter, Daichi's strength and reiatsu used to keep his brother down and immobilized was not something he wanted to instill. 

The third time a lot of noise erupted from their room, he contemplated it was best to separate them after all. 

Only they weren't engaged in a scuffle. Daichi seemed to be struggling with something internally. His little body shaking uncontrollably as he appeared to be locked inside a bad dream. 

He heard Koichi's frantic, "I didn't do anything." while Kisuke went over to Daichi's shaking form, trying to gently arouse him out of the night terror. 

The second he touched the kid, he startled awake, screaming and kicking out at him. And whatever he did or said, it couldn't alleviate the kid's tremors or stress levels. He had to resort to forcefully holding the little one down when Daichi's hysteric state worsened. 

Using Shunpo to get to his lab and back, he utilized a last resort; medicating the child to calm him down. Estimating the kid's weight and spiritual level to inject him with the right dosage of the calming drug. He felt horrible for administering such a medication to a child, and even worse that he even had to go to such lengths to get Daichi's distraught state remotely stabilized. 

The minute it was given Daichi's struggles slackened, aftershocks still wrecked the little body, but his breathing and stress levels were forcefully set back to a more normal level. The suddenly drowsy and limp frame he held in his arms, made him aware of the twin's brother who still stood on the other side of the room. 

A horrified expression on Koichi's face and distressed uttered "I didn't do anything, I swear." made Kisuke motion the kid over to him. 

"It's okay, it's not your fault." Urahara's utterance of reassurance prompted the child to burst into tears. He held Koichi with his other arm, repeating words of consolation. 

He realized that the twins were going to need a lot longer to recuperate than he predicted.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It had turned out into a long night. Kisuke had set up a spare futon in their room, so he could keep an eye on Daichi. While the little one was soundly asleep after the medication, it still worried him. What had spooked Daichi to such an extent that he had had gotten trapped into a full blown panic attack? 

Koichi hadn't crawled back into his futon, the little one felt seemingly safer at sleeping with him. The single mattress didn't leave Urahara a lot of space when the kid had decided to stretch out completely, but being forced to sleep on the ground was not what kept him awake. 

The children needed counseling, their problems were beyond his control. While he could certainly help the kids with a couple of sessions of therapy, the point of treatment was that one should stay objective, and not assess their mental issues in a subjective context. 

He would be unable to keep his emotions completely separate when it involved his own blood. Their stories about Mayuri would involuntarily feed his thoughts of revenge. He could still manage to keep that at bay, but when his emotions could be read straight of off his face, he would not be of much help to the kids. 

Besides, he wanted to be there for them on a personal level; a parent, not a mentor. They needed to trust him. 

He had mentioned the idea of counseling to Isane the next day she came over. 

"I'll arrange a session and keep you notified of the date." a physical check up of the two would also be done then for convenience since they would be in the 4th division. 

The mention of Daichi's distorted perception on meat made Isane schedule the twins an earlier date for the check up. With basically most of Mayuri's explicit proof missing, she couldn't look in any record to see if the children in section 5 had experienced cannibalism. Kids whom inhabited section one through five mostly kept tightly lip locked about any incidents that had occurred in the facility. Whether it was imprinted throughout threats or actual fear remained a mystery. 

Koichi had seemingly forgotten his brother's panic attack the next day and that bubbly energetic attitude resurfaced. Daichi had recovered from his drowsy drugged state, but the little one's demeanor seemed even more quiet than usual. What barriers Kisuke had managed to breach in order to begin building up a relationship of trust with him had instantly crumbled up even more; he was back to square one. 

"About Aizen," Isane said after Kisuke guided her out of the guest room. "The situation seems to be more complicated than that. You won't be permitted to have any privacy with him. The contact will have to be monitored." 

That formed a problem, how could he even proceed to have a serious and decent conversation when others listened in? Kisuke would like to know why Aizen had wanted kids. And he would like to know where he stood with Aizen, as far as their children were concerned. Nothing more than that. Maybe the brunet didn't even want more than that one night. Aizen had refused all contact after it. 

And he certainly didn't want the news to spread across Soul Society. 

"And I assume you or Yoruichi accompanying me is out of the question?" 

"It will be someone of Central 46." 

Even worse. "Well, they seem to have planned it out rather perfectly, do the nobles have nothing better to do..." Didn't Aizen suffer enough already, he doubted that the brunet would form any resistance now. 

"Anything related to Aizen is first priority in their eyes." 

"Then how did they react to the news of the children?" She seemed reluctant to show any sort of reaction, which clearly gave away the obvious. "No...don't tell me that they were involved..." the blond whispered. 

Does vengeance really stretch that far? A mass murder populating the land he previously tormented...of course the next generation of said criminal would be perceived with the same hate. But that went too far, they shouldn't pay for Aizen's deeds. 

"It is not confirmed, but out of precaution I contacted you as soon as possible when I found out about your connection to them." 

"We don't need any confirmation, it's obvious enough...There's no legal grounds for Central 46 to take them away from me, is there? If they're perceived as a threat or-" 

She interrupted his anxious speech. "Relax, the nobles can't justify taking children away from their lawful parents." 

"Except for Aizen." 

Isane didn't seem particularly keen on giving her opinion about it as she took a wad of papers out of her briefcase. "Well, he's..." 

"He's lost all rights while in custody." the blond finished for her. 

"Yes, as a prisoner..." that part was spoken rapidly and in a low voice, at the same time she averted his attention rather abruptly with signing the formalities. With those formalities out of the way, it should anchor Kisuke's acclaims towards the kids, should Central 46 decide to interfere. 

He opened the door to the guest room, about to tell the kids of his plan to bake a cake together, when he was only met by Koichi. The twin that was present in the room was already on board with Kisuke's idea. 

"Can I eat the cake?" 

"I expect a couple of working hands, not only tasters." Urahara mumbled while also looking under the bed for Koichi's brother. "Is Daichi hiding again?" 

"No." Koichi yanked softly on the sleeve of his hoari to get his attention. "But, can I eat it?" 

That did seem to be the kid's main concern. After being deprived of decent quality food and forced to consume the same meal every day, he could understand the child's enthusiasm. He stopped in his search for the other twin to give the kid a decent answer, "That's the intent, yes." 

Koichi grinned, yelled an, "Alright!" and was already halfway into the kitchen. 

He yelled after the kid about the whereabouts of his brother. Although Urahara was sure the question went completely past Koichi, due to his excited state. 

Yet he still received a shouted, "In the bath!" 

Going past the bathroom Kisuke did a quick check up on Daichi. And his concerned inquiry actually earned him a verbal response back. It would be okay with him, if the tub became the kid's comforter. Daichi needed to have a spot where he can be completely alone to learn to adjust. 

He could understand Daichi's need for privacy, the child was practically monitored his whole life after all. 

After getting all the ingredients ready to bake the cake, he told Koichi, "This is all we need, but first of all we need to wash our hands." Kisuke let the water run, guiding the child to the sink, as Koichi pushed him aside with a whiny, "I'm not a baby!" 

Urahara held out his hands in a mock defensive state. "Okay, go ahead." 

It's actually sad that he never got to see them as infants, he wasn't there for their first word or first steps. Instead, they were brought up in a cold dingy facility, never experiencing the freedom that children post war could take advantage of. They should have been brought up with the same standards, a worry-less opportunity to make use of one's childhood. 

It wasn't all lost yet though. All the twins had missed, they could still catch up on it. He was there for them now, and he wouldn't let them out of his sight. 

Koichi wasn't as difficult as his brother when it came down to trying to get the kid to participate in something. It was harder to keep his interest. 

After putting in the right amount of sugar and butter, it was time to mix up the goods, which was the part that Koichi was totally on board with. The kid was already a little whirlwind, so he left the whisking to the little one. With the sticky mixture, there was no fear of half of it ending up on the floor when Koichi was his energetic self. 

Next came the eggs, as he was about to crack one of the eggs in the bowl, the child instantly wanted to do that instead. Complaining about his arm that got tired after the 'endless' stirring Kisuke took over, while the egg was basically dropped into the mixture, shell and all. "Koichi..." He stopped the kid from manually taking the tiny pieces of eggshell out of the bowl. "Now we have to begin anew." 

Koichi heaved a sigh and put his head on top of his folded hands in a weary fashion. He raised an eyebrow at the kid's posture. "You're not going to help me anymore?" 

The kid shook his head and mumbled how he was bored already. 

Kisuke chuckled and made the batter himself. Estranged or not, they stayed kids at heart, short attention spans and easily bored. 

Without the help of his little worker the mix was done ten times faster. The shopkeeper turned around to rummage through his cupboard, in search for a pan. And in that fleeting moment Koichi had taken the opportunity to disappear, and so did the bowl of batter. 

It wasn't difficult to find the thieving twin, he just had to follow the exclaimed praises of "yummy cake!" and, "this is good." 

He stood towering over the little one. "I know that it's delicious already, but it's not meant to be eaten like this, we still have to bake it first." Koichi took a last dip in the batter with a spoon before handing it over. 

"Will it taste even better?" the little one questioned while following him back into the kitchen. 

"Sure." 

The batter was put into a pan and shoved into the oven. But bored or not, Kisuke couldn't manage to steer Koichi into helping him with the clean up. He was forced to wash the remains himself while the child took a place in front of the oven, curious on the delicious good that was called a cake. "Uh..." 

In the midst of washing, Kisuke looked at the prolonged hesitation the kid had mumbled out. "Don't touch the oven." 

"I'm not." 

"I wasn't." the shopkeeper corrected, which was not to Koichi's liking. 

"No, I'm not. Not I wasn't." 

"It's past tense since you weren't doing it at the moment of..." he shouldn't argue with the kid, he should stick to that resolve. 

The difficult question that the kid was so hesitant to ask was blurted out a second later, coupled with a yank on his hoari again. "What do I call you?" 

It was obvious why the kid needed a moment to think that through, because Kisuke certainly needed a moment to process that. He was their father, so naturally he should be called that. But could he really expect the children to say it? 

For the past six years he hadn't been in their lives at all. Did they even want to call him that? Kisuke definitely wanted to be regarded as their parent. 

Actually, he should give the twins the choice. "You can call me whatever you're comfortable with." 

The kid seemed to contemplate the line before a determined, "I call you dad!" followed. 

Next came the question about Kisuke's name which turned into a discussion about his surname. On paper, the children received his name after all. Which was for their best, the name Aizen didn't exactly have a positive connotation. 

"Urara?" tried Koichi. 

"Close enough." The kid ran out of the kitchen suddenly to reappear a bit later with his trusted color book. Opening the book at a random page, he told Kisuke to write his name. 

"You mean Urahara or-" 

"Yes." 

"It might be a too difficult kanji." he was interrupted quickly. 

"I can write kanji!" 

"Okay, it's good. No need to get so angry." 

The kid smiled and mimicked the kanji strokes, before writing his own name next to it, while practicing to pronounce his full name. "You don't always have to say your full name." 

That would help, since it was a mouthful for the six year old. 

"But, I want to." But stubborn as Koichi was, of course, he would do so anyways. 

The kid's brother appeared a bit later, just in time when Kisuke was taking the cake from out of the oven. 

"Your name is Urara too." he heard Koichi say while the kid demonstrated it to his brother on paper. 

"No." was Daichi's answer. 

"Yes." 

"No." 

Y-" 

"Hold on." It was just about time to intervene between the two. Daichi didn't really understand the whole concept of given name and surname, only after a quick explanation was the twin able to comprehend his brother's statement. 

A failure in communication, that was all there was between the two. But the abstraction of 'loving thy brother' wasn't simply explained. Koichi was bent on teaching his twin the strokes of the kanji, and Daichi kept refusing, until his brother's persistence became a little too much, and he threw Koichi's favorite book off the table. 

Enraged by his brother's actions, Koichi pushed his twin violently off the chair. All the while Kisuke's "Stop it." was defiantly ignored by both. 

The shopkeeper stepped in manually when he heard the beginnings of a certain spell coming out of Daichi's mouth. He put a hand over the kid's mouth to muffle his speech, draining the red energy that the kid summoned easily. 

He was surprised that the child could manage to summon Shakkaho, such an advanced level of kidou. And the type of hado was in the first place a usage for a long range of combat type. Certainly not to be used next to his brother or indoors for that matter. 

Daichi knew instantly that he had done something wrong and avoided his gaze, dead set on glaring at his sibling. He wouldn't question him about it, because he knew he wouldn't get an answer anyway. It was definitely worth mentioning to Isane though, she did tell him to make notes on their behavior. 

"Never, do I want you to use such spells on your brother, do you hear me?" 

Koichi wasn't the only one whom had difficulty in accepting authority, Daichi was extremely good at ignoring someone. 

But traumatic experiences or not, they needed to learn that they couldn't simply do as they pleased. And definitely not with the help of offensive spells. 

"How about doing something fun together with your brother?" It wasn't likely that a close bond would form between them anytime soon, but at least they could try to tolerate each other. "I think decorating the cake is something you can do together, without any arguments unfolding." he expressed to the both of them as he carefully put the cake in between the siblings. 

Icing, chocolate flakes and other sorts of sweetness was put next to it. As Koichi was about to claim his part of the cake, Kisuke intervened before the kid could draw a clearly uneven line in Daichi's disadvantage. He split it in equal parts so the two couldn't start a war over that. 

"Actually, that part is mine too." 

Kisuke figured it was best if he stayed close, Koichi's statement was already in the danger zone of riling up his twin. 

"No, it's not." replied Daichi calmly, taking a place far away from the other, and once seated tugged his own part of the cake across the table to his new place. 

"Koichi." Kisuke warned in advance as the child reached out for Daichi's part of the cake. 

"But," 

"No buts." That's something Koichi needed to learn desperately. 

"But! I made it!" 

Technically Kisuke had made it, but he was going to let that slide, it's the thought that they actively helped, that counted. "That might be, but you're still going to have to share." 

"No buts." replied Koichi smartly. 

Kisuke kept his expression neutral as the kid was clearly testing his boundaries. Koichi's smug look could rival Aizen's with a little practice. The children might outwardly resemble Kisuke more, but their personalities... 

Daichi was quietly decorating his own half, he even saw the kid curiously trying one of the edible sprinkles. And from the looks of Daichi's reaction, he liked it. Kisuke didn't draw any attention to it, afraid it would have a counterproductive result. 

Instead he encouraged the kid's involvement, it was difficult enough trying to catch Daichi's interest. "I'd say you made that cake ten times better." the odd colorful mish mash of different icings and ingredients seemed a little too bombastic and a guaranteed overdose on sugar for anyone who didn't have a sweet-tooth, whilst it was just the right amount of flashiness for a six year old. 

"I don't agree." came his twin's blatant response, whom had went on to sulk noticeably. 

"Then why aren't you decorating yours anymore?" 

"Because." 

Kisuke seated himself next to Daichi, focusing on the twin that at this moment, deserved more of his attention than the other one that was attempting to bait him with defiant behavior. 

"I don't like the cake!" came the response after it was clear that Kisuke ignored him. 

He glanced at Koichi whom was vying for his recognition at that point. "I like the creamy...the creaminess more." 

"The batter." 

"Yes, that." 

"I didn't say that you had to eat it." The kid preferred sugary goodness, fair enough. 

"I will." was not a response he had been expecting from Daichi. An actual confirmation, and on food at that... 

"I guarantee you that..." he trailed off as he heard the paneled door slide shut and a yelled "Yoo hoo." from Ururu came from behind the corner. 

Ururu had her boyfriend right next to her as he came to give her a big hug. 

"I think we need to talk." 

Kisuke grimaced at her statement. "You're pregnant?" 

What else could the news be when it was worded in such a serious manner. "And you're still so young and unmarried...Youth's escapades nowadays..." he always resolved to not draw any conclusions beforehand, unlike his friend Isshin, and yet when the time finally comes around, he fails exceptionally. 

"I'm not." Oh...her boyfriend stood awkwardly next to her, somewhat used of the unusual family his girlfriend originated from. "I'm actually here to talk about your escapades." her gaze was directed at something behind Kisuke. 

Urahara glanced back to see the twins' heads peeking around the corner. Upon being noticed, Koichi sprinted towards them, while Daichi stayed hidden for the most part. "Hello! My name is Koichi Urar...Urahara." the kid spoke up proudly. 

Ururu laughed and immediately returned the introduction. That enthusiasm certainly had a way of charming anyone easily. She focused her attention on the other twin, whose head disappeared at being addressed to. 

"Daichi's a little shy." Kisuke remarked. 

"Who are you?" Came Koichi's intrusive demand before the two could even attempt to sit down. 

"I grew up here in this house." Ururu explained. 

"You're my sister." concluded the curious twin. 

"Not directly," Urahara picked in. "She's not my daughter, but when she was around your age, she and another boy moved in here, much like you and Daichi." 

Koichi didn't find it particularly interesting and decided there was a more pressing issue. "Can you turn into a cat too?" 

Kisuke's correction of "Can you also turn into a cat." went completely ignored. 

Daichi whom had snuck up behind Kisuke's back, quietly asked him for a piece of the cake, trying hard to stay hidden from the two newcomers. He helped the child with a piece while Koichi enlightened Ururu and her boyfriend about the fish faced kid in his class. Which gave Daichi ample time to sneak out of the kitchen as soon as he had his share. 

Kisuke offered his guests also a piece of the cake as well and naturally they preferred the less bright-full part. 

Koichi didn't appreciate anyone touching his half and basically tried to pry the young man's arm away when he made a general move in that direction. The guy gave into the kid easily and was forced to take a piece of the part that was doused in sugar. 

"Don't let him intimidate you." Kisuke advised and chided Koichi about his rude behavior. 

He couldn't treat the kids differently because of their past, the mildness of trying to solve everything with letting the twins do as they please, nurtured their already bad habits. 

"Can I have a piece?" Ururu asked sweetly to which Koichi responded with an equally friendly, "Yes, you can." 

Koichi's bipolar behavior piqued now and then. 

"Why don't you go and see what your brother is up to?" encouraged Kisuke happily. Ururu couldn't begin talking about Aizen as long as one of the kids was around, and he could clearly see that that was on her mind. 

He actually did go in search of his brother, but not before a, "But, you can't have any!" to Ururu's boyfriend. 

"I'll watch over that." He reassured to his son, before giving the guy a piece anyways, even though he hadn't explicitly asked for another. In fact the poor guy seemed to have enough after Daichi's extravagant cake. 

"The talk goes around quickly." he muttered afterwards, when the twins were gone. 

"It's not badmouthing, but it's certainly news." she said. 

Well then, he could expect everybody visiting him to get a glimpse of his and Aizen's children. He couldn't blame them, but the kids were best left in the dark about their other parent for the time being. Until he figured out how to get Aizen out of prison. 

"Do you want to pursue a relationship with him?" 

Ururu and Jinta had always been front row witnesses of his feelings regarding Aizen. Well, his superficial feelings post war, not their late night hook up. The brunet's help in defeating Bach made them view Aizen in a slightly more positive way than the traitor Urahara had described the other as. 

"You have to be with two to decide something like that." 

"But would you like that?" she pronounced. 

"I would have no trouble trying to form a real family." he confessed openly. 

She smiled. "Not so much of an escapade after all."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Introducing them to candy was something he definitely regretted; once they discovered they liked the taste of the sweets, handfuls of candy disappeared from out of his shop. And the one responsible for that had to be Koichi. 

Since, his twin still expressed difficulty with any sort of food, be it sweets or not. 

Koichi's behavior when asked about the disappearance denounced the sneaky brat completely. His face didn't show any guilt at being exposed, though; it had been the way the kid had hid his hands behind his back while fidgeting nervously that had betrayed the little one. 

Still, the kid kept resolutely denying everything. "I don't know where they are," he pulled up his hands, shrugging off Kisuke's inquiry, and in a voice that was just as innocent as his expression. 

"Are you sure about that?" asked Kisuke doubtfully. 

"I think Daichi eat it all." 

"Ate it all," he corrected the kid, while the dark blond head nodded eagerly. 

"Yes, he did." 

Urahara shook his head amusedly. "I am positive that your brother wouldn't do something like that. In fact, I know who the culprit is." 

"Who?" asked Koichi curiously. 

He called the sneaky twin over to the playroom; various sweets were hidden away in the toy chest, some even within the toys. Koichi's face turned red while he tried to hide his grin. 

"Are you planning on building your own ecosystem?" 

Despite not knowing the meaning of the word, the kid still put two and two together by studying Kisuke's expression. Since his face didn't show any sign of anger, Koichi responded, "Yes." 

Kisuke smiled just as brightly, knowing he caught the little one. "What's an ecosystem?" 

The kid didn't even mull over it as he said smartly, "That!" pointing at the toy-box in the process. 

Kisuke had to try his best to hide an amused chuckle. This was serious business, after all. It wasn't necessarily about thieving the sweets, though; the sneaky twin seemed quite okay with telling a lie here and there. He knew children tested all boundaries, yet he didn't want his children to get away with deceiving others. 

It was innocent enough now, but it could turn harmful if they never learned that it could cause serious damage in the long run. The older they get, the more intricate such lies would become and the harder it would be to run away from them. 

After all, once one begins lying, one must continue down that path. 

Their carrier would be the perfect example to warn them about such false sayings. Kisuke was going to leave that task to Aizen. It was something Sousuke could personally tell them, if he ever desired to do so. It wasn't Kisuke's job; he didn't want their children to get the wrong impression about Aizen. 

There was still bad blood between them; one night is hardly enough to absolve Aizen's past. He could trust himself to not let bad experiences be the judge of his moralities, but Sousuke's motives could better be told to the children from his point of view. At least in regards to some choices, the kids didn't need to be brainwashed and reformed to see Aizen as a guidance to life decisions either. 

Kisuke was going to make sure; he would be there to keep their twins on the right track. 

"I will put them all back," Koichi resolved, taking a couple into his hands and running in the direction of his shop. 

"Woah, hold on there!" He used the handle of his cane to pull the little one back by the arm. "I can't sell them now; teeth marks are visible on some of them." 

"But…" 

He looked at the kid who was clearly struggling to come up with an excuse. "But?" 

"But, it's only one bite!" 

Aha! "Did you take that bite?" he questioned knowingly. 

The kid was in the middle of nodding his head, before he realized he had been set up and looked away from him. "I mean Daichi..." 

He set the kid on his knee so he could address him fully for his slip up. "Listen, this is what you're going to do from now on: I don't mind it if you take one or two sweets out of the shop, but the cupboard in the kitchen I showed you and Daichi is actually meant for that, okay?" 

He wouldn't exactly make a huge financial loss due to Koichi's thieving, but he also couldn't keep track of what they consumed. They certainly couldn't stuff themselves with candy alone; it wasn't a substantial meal, especially when they skipped dinner because of it. The twins needed more vitamins and nutrients. 

"Will you remember that for the next time?" The kid nodded bashfully. "All right then, go play," he said as his phone had been vibrating during his sentence. When he saw Ichigo's name, he remembered what day it was. Life with two kids was so hectic now compared to his lonesome days that he sometimes forgot what day it was. 

And Ichigo had mentioned before that he would bring Kazui over. The kid had a free day from school, and the rest of the Kurosaki household would be too busy to watch over the youngest of the family. Kisuke hoped introducing his kids to someone their age would improve their social skills. 

Confirming the promise of babysitting he hung up the phone, turning his attention to the Hellbutterfly that Isane sent him. The message contained a date on which the kids were going to begin counseling and a date on which he was allowed to see Aizen, visiting hours included. 

He decided to forewarn his children of Kazui's visit, so they weren't too perplexed at the kid's arrival. Since, he didn't know how their interaction with other children would go. And with Daichi, it was always best to explain beforehand of any changes to his 'daily' schedule. 

He had to shoo Koichi out of his shop once again when he kept bothering his employee about the intriguing fish faced kid in order to sneak candy into the private area of the house. 

"What did I tell you not even five minutes ago?" 

"B-" 

He intercepted the kid's favorite word. "Well?" 

"I can take one or two..." 

He wisely told the child to clean out his pockets, granted there were going to be more than a couple of sweets stuffed in them. Koichi heaved a sigh and took everything out, proving Kisuke right. "I think I'm going to put a lock on the door," he muttered while Koichi panicked. 

"No, you don't, Gorou won't like that, he wants to..." 

Koichi's persuasion went on as the kid walked out of the shop and into the private area, barely paying attention to whether or not Kisuke could hear his speech. Although, he didn't really need to hear Koichi's justifications; Koichi's only business residing in the shop was sampling the sweets, not having a talk with his employee. 

Before Kisuke followed him, he told Gorou a brief, "You can send him back out whenever he comes in." 

The explanation was actually pretty well received by his twins. Daichi didn't particularly care about Kazui, while Koichi was all hyped up about meeting someone of his own age. Which was expected since Koichi was the one who had been raised while surrounded by other kids. 

When Kazui finally arrived, he was welcomed by Koichi's incredibly charming introduction and a suddenly missing Daichi. 

"Urahara?" Ichigo's clueless expression after the kid said his full name told him that the youngster hadn't heard a word of the gossip yet. 

"Oh, that's right..." Kisuke mumbled. "You went on a trip, well, want something to drink Kurosaki-san? Because it's going to take a bit." 

However, after informing him, Ichigo seemed slightly reluctant about leaving Kazui with him. He understood Ichigo enough to know he wouldn't judge anyone, but the youngster's next sentence did sound somewhat condemning. "Now that you've told me, I can see the resemblance to Aizen," before he told Urahara that he would work something else out about Kazui's babysitting. 

"Is this solely about Aizen?" Urahara lowered his voice so the twins couldn't hear him. Koichi was preoccupied enough by the new kid anyways. "They don't have to pay for what Aizen did." 

If Ichigo's opinion about the twins was already so negative, anyone would simply shun the kids because of their heritage. 

"No, it's not about that. You know how I want to protect Kazui from his own powers?" 

So, it wasn't because of Aizen after all. 

Since Ichigo had Kazui, the younger Kurosaki seemed to become increasingly like his father. He hardly visited Soul Society anymore, unless it was a meet up with Renji and Rukia. It had the notion of desperately keeping his own child away from any connection to the Spirit World, as if he forgot Isshin's secrecy and the problems it caused once Ichigo developed his powers. 

The war had left its scars on Ichigo too, understandably. But, secluding a child from everything, including the dangers of the outside, would eventually result in smothering the kid, all in the guise of protection. 

At least Kazui was made aware of his reiatsu and the Spirit World, unlike Ichigo back in the day. 

Still, Ichigo wanted to keep the contact to a minimum. 

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that," Kisuke reassured him. "The twins aren't exactly informed about the happenings in the Seireitei." The unusual smile he received from the other betrayed he wasn't entirely convinced yet. So he influenced Ichigo's decision with his usual motivation; shooing him out of the door, not heeding his protests. 

It began well. Koichi tugged Kazui with him to the playroom, but Koichi's friendly pretense didn't last long. 

He had thought that if either of the twins would cause troubles, it would have to be Daichi. Yet, Daichi kept mostly to himself while his twin was ready for an all-out war. 

Koichi claimed all the toys as his own and banned Kazui from touching anything. Kisuke stayed out of the way at first, waiting to see how it would unfold. The two kids bantering back and forth seemed innocent enough, until… 

"I would be a bit nicer if I was you, 'cause my brother will eat you," Koichi threatened as Kazui's response was a shocked, 

"You're a Hollow?" 

Kisuke was just in time to catch Ichigo's son after Koichi had expelled the kid out of the room with a forceful push of his reiatsu. 

Clear that the two weren't about to sort their differences on their own, he stepped in. "What is happening here?" 

"He called Daichi a Hollow!" Koichi spoke up before Kazui could, coming to stand right next to the little Kurosaki, while practically nudging the kid out of the way. 

He stopped Koichi's forceful insistence. "You're not being very friendly. What is Kazui to think of you if you're so hostile?" 

"He called Dai-" 

He intercepted the little one mid speech, so he couldn't attempt to turn the scuffle in his favor. "I asked you a question, Koichi." 

But, he didn't listen. "Ask Daichi! He did!" 

Koichi's twin didn't like the attention on him and kept his head bowed, avoiding being confronted, while Kazui scooted closer to Kisuke's side. 

He inspected the younger Kurosaki superficially, as the child had taken quite a blast from Koichi's reiatsu. Luckily Ichigo's kid was a mix of species, thanks to his father. The strong genes protected him from the offensive push. 

"Okay, since you don't want to acknowledge your own fault, you will get a time out." 

As of now, he had only threatened Koichi with it. He didn't know what Kisuke had meant by it each time, but the threat had been taken seriously so far, resulting in compliance. Now, though, it needed to be used because Koichi kept singling out Kazui. 

In the living room, next to the TV, there was a small corner where he had put a child sized chair. He urged the kid to sit on it and told him, "For six minutes you're going to think about what you did wrong." 

"But, I didn't." 

"Koichi…" 

The kid crossed his arms, "I'm not going to think; I'm just going to sit," he said in a challenging tone. 

"That will do just fine." So long as he sat there for six minutes straight. 

He took a quick look at the two in the playroom, but they could share the same space peacefully. The troublemaker had been Koichi, who when he came back to check, had shuffled his chair to the center of the living room so he could watch TV. 

"I didn't say that you could do that." He put the chair back into the corner, kid and all. "Can you answer me now if I ask you why you were being aggressive?" 

Koichi didn't answer, stood up from his chair while frowning at him, and dragged the chair back to the center of the room. Before the kid could sit down though, Kisuke halted his actions, which made the little one giggle. 

Koichi's uncooperativeness had Urahara giving out a stern, "I'm not laughing, Koichi." The kid turned his playful expression into a glare. "If you're going to sit here instead of in the corner, your six minutes will turn into twelve." 

"I don't care," the little one replied surly, while trying to pry Kisuke's hand off the back of the seat, pinching the frail skin on Kisuke's hand sharply. 

"Koichi!" He grabbed Koichi by the wrist and pointed a finger at him. "Stop hurting others." 

The kid looked at him innocently. "I'm sorry." Kisuke let go of the little one's arm when he finally understood that he was being scolded, only for Koichi to walk towards the couch. 

"But, if I can't sit there, I have to sit here," and promptly decided to take his punishment to that seat. Kisuke briefly wondered how Aizen would have handled the situation. 

During those twelve minutes, Koichi continued to test him, constantly changing his seating position while looking at him. He even ended up dangling upside down, with his head on the ground and feet in the air. 

"Have you learned anything now?" 

"Yes." 

He had actually expected the other to answer that with its antonym. 

"This is really comfortable," referring to his weird position. 

The mischievous twin followed Kazui with a hawk like gaze when the little Kurosaki came over to him. "I'm thirsty." 

"You know that you're allowed to take anything from out of the fridge," Kisuke stated encouragingly. 

Kazui ran off while Koichi sprang up, looming over the edge of the couch in order to keep an eye on the orange haired kid before drawing an imaginary circle in the air, whispering random words. 

Kisuke turned down the volume of the television, listening intently. 

"Fingertips of the west, heels of the east-" 

Urahara cleared his throat, "The warning to your brother about using kidou also applies to you." 

"I'm singing!" 

"I know for sure that that is not a song." 

"It is." Koichi nodded his head. "You don't know the song." 

"I think someone is going to bed rather early today." 

"But I didn't do any-" 

"You hurt Kazui and didn't share your toys." 

"He. Did. Not. Ask! And. Called. Daichi. A Hollow!" The kid articulated each word expressively. 

"First of all, a Hollow is not an insult." The kid giggled again, finding his statement extremely funny for some reason. "And secondly, when I allow you to go back into the playroom," Koichi turned his head to follow Kazui. "Koichi…" The twin turned back towards him. "Will you be nice and share your toys?" 

"Yes!" the kid yelled and was already halfway into the playroom. 

Kisuke waited for any sure signs that singled a fight was about to start, and vaguely heard Koichi telling Kazui a demanding, "You have to ask me first." Aside from that, peace finally resonated throughout the playroom. They even got along pretty well after Kazui introduced Koichi to a game of tag. 

The two ran around the house, playfully shouting at each other. It was a sight to behold. Everything was alright with Koichi, but now the other twin acted up. 

The door to the guest room was shoved closed forcefully. He found the other in his usual position, covering his ears. "Too much noise," he told Kisuke. 

It was difficult to keep the balance between the two; Daichi was a lot calmer than his energetic twin after all. 

He took a hold of one of the running flash steps. "Could you both take it to the basement?" There was a whole field to be taken advantage of there. 

The kid in his hold was promptly tagged. "You're it!" 

"Uncle Urahara!" the kid whined, before disappearing after the older one. 

Kisuke shook his head, sure he was going to turn grey by the end of the year at this rate. Kids... 

-0- 

On the day of their counseling he and the kids traveled back through the portal into the Seireitei. He was close to the 4th division when Daichi suddenly clamped a hand around Kisuke's. The kid stopped in the middle of the road and burst into tears for no apparent reason. 

The shopkeeper turned the distraught twin in his direction, asking what was wrong while his cries became even worse. When Daichi became downright hysterical, and random Shinigami glared at Kisuke as if he was the cause of the kid's misery, he asked a desperate, "Please tell me what's wrong; I can't help you if you don't say anything." Frantic cries were already simple stabs in the heart, but they became fierce jabs when distraught sobs were the only answer he received. 

As they stood in the middle of the street, all attention was focused on them while Kisuke's comforting words went entirely ignored. It was such a mess, but he couldn't possibly give the kid a calmative drug over a random fit, could he? 

Isane arrived, having been alerted by a witness to the spectacle. 

Of course, in the real world Daichi's behavior would have child services knocking on his door. 

"I don't know what to do," he answered helplessly as Isane approached Daichi. The crying twin screamed a, "No!" before latching onto Urahara's legs. He carefully disengaged himself from the kid's death grip, taking him into his arms. When the fourth division's taicho tried to reach out a second time, Daichi's panic attack made it clear why it was necessary to inform the kid of any changes to his daily schedule beforehand; the boy crying out, "I don't wanna go back!" 

Suddenly, he felt horrible for not explaining where they were going. To the kids, it must have appeared they were on the way back to their personal hell. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, "I promise that you'll never go back there." 

After Kisuke calmly explained the intent of their visit to the Seireitei, Daichi's screaming had turned into quiet sniffles and hiccups. The little one continued to cling to him, refusing to let go, presenting an obvious problem for the kid's physical checkup. Kisuke almost abandoned the session when the medics had to take a crying and screaming Daichi away from him. It was disheartening to say the least. 

For their therapy, he could observe their session from the next room via a one-way mirror. This way, if his expression showed any emotion, he wouldn't be able to directly influence them. 

Koichi went first; he sat at a table opposite a psychologist of the 4th division. 

"Hello Koichi," the medic answered after the kid's introduction. "My name is Dr. Yamanashi. I want to ask you a couple of questions, and all you have to do is answer them with the help of the three cards on the table." 

A card with a happy smiley face, one with a sad face, and a third one with an angry face were all laid out on the middle of the table, facing the kid. 

"I'm going to show you a picture first, and you will choose which card is connected to the emotion you feel when seeing that photo." 

She showed an easy photo to begin with to see if the kid understood the concept, and the picture of a cat was an instant hit with Koichi. The next photo was of a classroom, presumably the one Koichi inhabited in the institute. 

His son didn't even hesitate and pointed at every card. "Why do you feel happy when seeing the picture?" the medic questioned. 

Kisuke smiled when Koichi exclaimed that learning new stuff was fun. 

"Why do you feel sad when seeing the picture?" 

The little one maneuvered himself into seiza position on the chair so he was able to point at a certain spot in the photo. "Because Aki sat there." 

"The fish faced kid," murmured Kisuke. He had heard Koichi mention that name and the tale about Aki's resemblance to a fish more than once. Isane looked at him confusedly as Kisuke elaborated, "A classmate of his." 

The medic scribbled something down and guessed, "And you're sad because you wanted to sit there?" 

He saw Koichi frowning. "No, it was Aki's seat." 

"Then why are you sad?" 

Kisuke saw the signs of the kid beginning to lose concentration, shifting his position every so often and looking around in the room, anywhere but in the direction of Yamanashi. 

"Koichi," she said in a way to captivate his focus again. "Then, why are you sad?" she repeated. 

Koichi heaved a heavy sigh. "I. Told. You. It. Was. Aki's. Seat. But," Koichi concluded with a shrug. " Not anymore." 

"Where is Aki now?" 

"Gone," replied Koichi casually. "His soul is gone." 

Did Koichi understand the meaning of a soul being gone, or did the little one use the wording randomly? 

"Maybe," Koichi continued as the medic stopped scribbling. "Maybe Daichi eat him." 

Kisuke grimaced; Koichi needed to stop throwing that out as if it was the most normal thing in the world. The completely neutral tone was scary when spoken by a six-year-old. 

"And why are you angry?" 

"Because, Arata took Aki's seat!" the kid stated angrily, slamming his hands on the table. 

She nodded and switched to another picture, showing the dormitory. Again, Koichi pointed at every emotion. The feeling that was connected to the smiley was questioned about first. 

"Because, I'll be sleeping and... Why is there a mirror?" he strayed from the subject. 

"You don't need to worry about the mirror; can you tell me instead why you were happy when you went to bed?" 

But Koichi kept derailing from the current topic. "When I make this face," he said, hollowing out his cheeks and puffing out his lips. "I look like Aki." 

"It's very difficult to keep his focus on certain topics; his bi-polar behavior makes an appearance at those times," remarked Kisuke as he had to applaud the medic for being able to hide her frustration. "Daichi might visibly show more symptoms of having gone through trauma, but Koichi is probably the one who has the most difficulty in dealing with those experiences." Even if therapy helped them cope with the trauma, they would be far from 'healed.' The repercussions formed a high likelihood of danger. 

Kisuke looked back at Koichi when he finally answered her question. 

"Because, at night nothing happens," finished the child. 

The psychologist couldn't even begin questioning the little one about his answer as Koichi interrupted her speech before she could speak up. "And, I'm sad when I wake up." 

"Can you tell-" 

"Can I color?" 

It might be better to let Koichi express himself through that method because it was a form of comfort; something he liked to do. 

"You want to color?" 

"It's what I asked!" the child heaved another sigh and slumped over the desk, clearly disinterested in going on with the lesson. And his interest was only piqued when someone brought over some paper and colors, which he hastily made use of. 

Kisuke couldn't really make out the kid's drawing since he was basically shielding it in his slumped over position. 

"What did you draw?" Apparently, the medic couldn't make anything out of it either. 

"A bored face," Koichi explained, before pointing rudely at her. "Because, you bore me!" 

"I'm actually scared about their evaluation," Kisuke muttered as he watched Koichi's malicious grin directed at the psychologist. 

"They will not get an evaluation until after a few sessions. The kids need to get used to expressing their feelings before we can draw any conclusions." 

Kisuke could at least count on Isane to keep this strictly confidential because Central 46 would have institutionalized the twins in an instant for their uneven behavior. 

The medic wisely kept quiet and showed another picture. Kisuke became instantly alert when it was a photo of Mayuri. 

"You don't need to stay," Isane told Kisuke after reading his feeling of reluctance right off his face. 

"No, I need to be here." Furthermore, he needed to be strong for his children. 

"Do you know who this is?" 

Koichi nodded, and his posture straightened. "Dr. Mayuri." 

He gritted his teeth at the title; there was not a single empathic bone in Kurotsuchi, who didn't deserve the title of doctor. Mayuri's morality absolutely did not center on the ability to help souls. 

Yamanashi didn't even have to ask the kid about his emotions when Koichi pointed at the three cards again. And afterwards, he buried his face in his hands. 

The medic encouraged the little one to go on. "You're doing a good job, Koichi. Can you tell me why you feel those emotions when seeing the picture?" 

The kid crossed his hands over each other, facing her with a neutral expression. "I'm happy when Dr. Mayuri is gone." 

The medic pointed at the sad face, questioning Koichi about that emotion. 

Koichi looked intently at the picture, the little one's voice sounding strangely hollow and somehow younger than his six years. "I'm angry when Dr. Mayuri is there and sad when Dr. Mayuri hurts me." 

"Can you tell me how Dr. Mayuri hurt you?" 

The kid turned back towards the medic, replying with an emotionless, "I want to go back to daddy," and got off the chair, violently tugging on the handle of the locked door. 

The medic signaled the session's end via the mirror and escorted Koichi out. 

"If I find out what that bastard did to them..." Kisuke muttered absentmindedly in a low tone. 

Isane must have misheard him, because she said, "We need to take this slowly. It is very difficult for a child that young to be open about any traumatic experiences. It already takes time as an adult; imagine someone of that age having to learn to cope with bad experiences." 

Kisuke nodded briefly, gaze still focused in the other room. 

"How do they react towards others in general?" 

"Koichi is all right, to a degree, while Daichi tries to avoid everyone. I introduced them to Ichigo's son, but Koichi acted very hostile." 

"I will be repeating myself, but patience and time really are the best healing properties for them right now." 

When Daichi was brought into the room, the kid glared furiously at the medic, eyes still puffy and red from his screaming fit at being separated from Urahara. He sat down on the chair, pushing himself back from the table as far as he could and silently glaring while the medic gave an introduction and explained the cards. 

"You should move you chair a bit closer again because you won't be able to reach them," she said and stood up when Daichi didn't make any motion to follow her advice. 

"No!" he yelled, kicking out as the psychologist stepped towards him. 

"Okay, we'll manage it this way," Yamanashi concluded, going back to her own place, opposite the kid. 

The session with Daichi went very laboriously. The twin kept glaring fiercely at her, barely looking at the photos, not speaking, nor following any instructions. 

The photos weren't the same as Koichi's; the one with the sleeping arrangements was a small white empty room, bare and with a single bed. And no classroom was shown to this kid; instead, a lab-station was offered as a second photo. 

During the entire session, the psychologist received no reaction whatsoever, no matter how hard she tried to encourage Daichi, until Mayuri's photo. 

Daichi sprang up from his seat and with a flash-step ripped the photo out of her hands, crumbling it up and tearing it into a million pieces. His manic state resurfaced after the action, screaming and crying out. 

Kisuke told Isane to quit the session, leaving the room to go around as the 4th division's Taicho knocked on the window. 

"Open the door," he demanded the medic who stood outside of the interrogation room. 

The guy opened it with a badge, and as soon as the door opened, Daichi ran into his arms. 

"It's okay," he told the crying twin. "He won't hurt you anymore." He ignored Yamanashi's offer to try it a second time and asked for Koichi. The kids needed to let that sink in first before being confronted by anything that happened at the orphanage. 

"It is important that you follow a schedule in therapy before they become too scared and suppress everything." 

"I realize that," he told Isane. "It's just..." 

"Difficult, I know," she finished for him sympathetically. 

"I want a meeting with him," he told her resolutely. Kisuke knew that the 4th division had permission to visit Mayuri for the sake of studying the scientist's reasoning, or lack thereof. 

However, she seemed reluctant to obey his request this time. 

"I'll behave," he reassured. At least while he wasn't sure what had occurred in the facility... "It's something that I need to do." 

"I understand, but he's not allowed to see anyone until his trial." 

Then Kisuke must make sure that he finds another way. He needed to hear what went through Mayuri's head - why he thought all those little kids needed to be subjected to such horrific experiments. He wanted to be there in person, to hear it out of Mayuri's mouth, and see if he had the nerve to tell Kisuke what he did. 

"Speaking of visiting rights, are you ready?" 

But first, Aizen needed a little visit. "I'll be back in a bit, after I dropped off the twins." The children were allowed to remain in the 4th division for the duration of the visit. After the intense lessons, though, he decided that they would rather be at home. Yoruichi could babysit them while he was gone. The twins had met her already and seemed to be okay with being in her presence. 

Arriving back home, he found she wasn't alone; her lover and their three 'kits' were present as well. Grimmjow had two of the three and a half year olds on his hip, the little girls' pigtails bouncing when they saw him. 

He greeted them cheerfully with a tickle attack before he asked, "Where is your brother, huh?" and the two pointed in the general direction of the living room. The kid was most likely perched in front of the TV. 

Kisuke took a hold of Koichi as he was about to run in there. 

He saw Grimmjow eyeing the twins. "I've seen you've come along." 

The shopkeeper couldn't really forewarn the former Arrancar about the kids' ignorance of Aizen, before he said, "I wanted ta see Aizen's brats." 

He should actually congratulate Yoruichi, because she did manage to 'domesticate' Grimmjow a fair bit. Compared to lower lever Hollows, the upgraded Hollow was a lot more nurturing towards his offspring. 

The blue haired man put the two girls down as they were eager to get to know the twins. Daichi was practically glued to Kisuke's leg, doing his best to hide from Aimi and Hana, while Koichi let himself be dragged away by the two. Kisuke told Koichi a clear, "Be nice!" before they disappeared around the corner. 

"Who would have thought that my kits would teach Aizen's manners." 

"Grimmjow," he began but was quickly cut off. 

"Chill, I heard what happened. Anyone that touches kids is fucked up in the head. If those were my kids, he'd be dead, locked up or not," the Arrancar ground out. 

He wasn't going to verbally agree to that because Daichi was still latched onto his leg and didn't need to hear his threats to Mayuri; however, he couldn't help the thoughts in his head that didn't dismiss Grimmjow's statement instantly. 

Yoruichi rounded the corner, telling them, "I've put on a movie and they're all mesmerized." 

"For now," Grimmjow added. 

She bent down on her knees when she saw Daichi's desperate attempt to hide himself and held out a hand to the boy. "Your brother is there too; no need to be shy." 

"I'm actually going to let him take a nap," Kisuke told her. "It has been a rather rough day." 

She followed him when the blond made the kid's bed as Daichi had disappeared to get changed. "Have you found out anything yet?" 

He shook his head. "They start with an introduction to therapy first. If they're reminded of any horrible things right away, it might have a dual negative effect. They'll get scared by any thought that reminds them of the institute and that will make them shut down." 

"Do you want to be there at the sessions?" He saw the concern in her golden eyes. 

"You're the second one that asked. Yes, I need to be there. In fact, I want to hear it out of Mayuri's mouth, I want to-" He broke off his speech as Daichi entered the room. The kid glanced at them before crawling onto the futon. 

He was about to put the covers over the little one when the kid grabbed the sheets out of his hands, doing it himself, and without a word, Daichi turned his back on him. 

Once outside of the guest room, he let out a frustrated sigh. 

"They may be broken, Kisuke, but if there's anyone who can heal them, it's you." 

He wanted to snort at her cheerful encouragement. This went beyond experienced healing kidou; even Benihime wouldn't be able to mend their tortured souls. 

"Could you check up on him now and then?" 

"Of course." 

He took a quick glance into the living room, seeing the three turquoise heads were glued to the television screen while Koichi stood in front of the seated Sexta, doing his all too infamous Aki story. 

"Oh, and Koichi can be a little instigator, I've noticed; best not to let him out of your sight." 

-0- 

Aizen was still imprisoned in Muken, but in a different section of the underground solitary confinement. He was still completely restrained, but instead of a chair, a metal table was his support. 

Kisuke could only visit the other without the presence of Benihime, and Isane wasn't allowed to accompany him either. Besides a representative of Central 46, he was by himself inside of the underground cell. He wasn't perhaps monitored in the most traditional sense, but outside of the room, more than a couple of special ops guards awaited anyone's wrong moves. 

So, taking Aizen with him unnoticeably was definitely not an option, which was perhaps the reason the Onmitsukido weren't considered as guards instead. Yoruichi's leading position in the 2nd division, her close ties to Kisuke, and Kisuke's and Sousuke's parental ties to the twins were all big warning signs to Central 46. 

As he approached the brunet on the metal table, he began to notice the other's obvious lack of consciousness. He appeared to be sleeping, but the total unresponsiveness of his body and his controlled and measured reiatsu levels hinted at a drug-induced state. 

He looked at the Central 46 representative in the room. "What is the meaning of this?" 

"An Aizen that's completely immobile and unable to speak, and without being able to form any cognizant thoughts is a trustworthy Aizen." His speech seemed to be well practiced and exactly the kind of attitude Kisuke expected from Central 46. 

"This is not what I came here for." It completely defeated the purpose of coming here if he couldn't even converse with the brunet. 

"Maybe you should have been a little more specific in your request. You can always file a complaint, but seeing as you're not bonded to Aizen, I don't foresee it being effective," he said arrogantly. 

"There's no need for that," Kisuke replied casually, as he made a show of summoning his reiatsu, preparing to bring Aizen to a more responsive state. 

"You cannot do that," he warned, and when Kisuke made no effort to obey the other, the guy wasted no time informing the guards in the hallway. 

"Urahara Kisuke, your reiatsu will be locked up for the remainder of your stay." 

He dodged the special ops, immediately rendering himself defenseless. "Okay, no problem, no reiatsu, I got it." 

The guards still didn't take the risk of allowing his reiatsu free gain and began making motions to shackle his pressure. A short intake of breath from the normally dormant brunet captured their attention. 

Kisuke hadn't intended to rouse Aizen with the help of a kidou spell, knowing it would be halted before he managed to get through the process. The guards had only patted him down before his entrance into Muken, not a proper search when someone like him could sneak in any substance without much effort. 

Then again, their vacant expressions at finding the small, slender nozzle told him that they wouldn't have realized that it could be easily assembled into a syringe. Perhaps they should have employed someone of the 4th division as a lookout. 

The substance in the injection pen needed only a little bit of pressure to awake even a slumbering Vasto Lorde. 

The brunet, who was still completely sealed and fastened on the metal table, slowly came to his senses. When the attention of the guards zoned in on the other completely, Kisuke negotiated, "You can lock my pressure, but just let me have a few words with him." 

The representative of Central 46 shared a glance with the guards before telling him, "Any funny business and you'll find yourself in a place next to him." 

"Completely understandable," Kisuke conceded with a bright smile while his pressure got locked down. 

One of the guards stays inside of the room with the representative. 

As he approaches the brunet a second time and pulls back the seals around Aizen's mouth, he gets warned that he's forbidden to touch the brunet, which is logical since Kisuke does possess the ability to render the seals useless if he so desires. 

"Am I normally not allowed to indulge in some private intimate time with my lover?" 

"A bond lover," he hears the stress on the word bond. 

"Bond, not bound, missed opportunity…" Kisuke mutters amusedly while the guard and the representative's gazes stay neutral and wary. 

He inches as close as he can get to the drowsy brunet. "Can you hear me?" Sousuke nods briefly, licking his rather dry-looking lips. "Bring me something to drink," to wash away the sandpaper feeling of Aizen's throat after being muted for such a long time. 

After all, he needed to be able to talk to him. 

"This is not a hotel; Aizen is robbed of his freedom and basic rights." 

"True, but I still hold those rights, and I could be mistaken, but I don't think there's a law that forbids a visitor from drinking anything." 

The representative looks ready to decline his request, comprehending that it was not going to be used to quench Kisuke's thirst, but Aizen's. Alas, he can't deny Kisuke's rights based on any claims and informs one of the guards outside of the room. 

"Hey," he greets the brunet when he finally opens his eyes, although he's only able to see one brown eye due to the seals. He lets the other know that he doesn't have to say anything in return, since he couldn't wet his dry mouth. 

The cold glass of water is handed over, and they know he's going to let the other sip it but pretend to not notice it. 

The thirsty brunet gulps down at least half of the liquid. A fit of coughs erupts from him because of the weird angle that he's forced to drink in. As the blond is not allowed to touch the brunet, he can't help in keeping him upright. 

He watches how a trickle of water manages to escape, trailing down the brunet's neck, under one of the seals. 

Sousuke felt parched, as if his suddenly awakened senses remembered all he had gone without. The seals still hold down his pressure, but he feels his reiatsu thrumming pleasantly at his aroused state - the same throbbing reaction the Hogyoku gave at being in the presence of its master. 

He gives said being a glance with the single eye that's visible. 

"You seem a lot more alive now. I don't mean that in a bad way, though; you still look good, from what I can see at least," which was not much to go off on. The bandages and seals cover him completely, save for a bare eye and his mouth. 

He can feel the sting of whatever drug Kisuke injected into the pressure point of his hand, near the main artery. When he flexes his hand with what little movement he can make use of, Kisuke tells him, "Sorry about that, sleeping beauty. I wasn't allowed to kiss you awake instead." 

He furrows his brows at the delighted blond. He could guess why the other decided to pay him a visit and was actually kind of surprised that Kisuke wasn't mad. He thought for sure that his little stunt would have earned him no visitors at all for the rest of his sentence, especially not Kisuke. 

"I think you know what I'm going to ask you," he said as Sousuke nodded. "I'll give you time to explain." 

Here? He couldn't exactly move his head much to look at the other occupants in the room, but he could feel their presence. What he had to say was personal, not something he wanted to share with everyone. Then again, whatever he had to say couldn't possibly worsen his sentence. His mouth had been sealed to silence his voice once his pregnancy became known. 

"Where do I start..." 

"Preferably at the beginning," the blond responded eloquently. 

Well, the beginning was more like his end. The countdown of his 20,000 years in prison could start at last. The years he served before the war didn't even count. Back into the underground he went: no contact, no light, and certainly no hope. 

Unlike now where he could feel his own energy, his state was normally in complete lockdown. Everything becomes a haze during that state. Like an endless dream, no, more like a nightmare, he just lays there waiting. 

So, when he was freed during the war by the Captain-Commander, he would have thought that his service during the war would shorten his sentence. How wrong he was... instead his freedom got stolen again, along with them. 

"If that night was going to be my last night as a free man, I would make sure that what it would bring forth could carry on when I failed to." The blond's grey eyes look at him quizzically. "Is that not what everyone wishes for while knowing they are near the end? To have offspring who carry on? Little did I know that your apprentice would take an interest in them." 

"He's not my apprentice!" came Kisuke's growled response. 

"No, apparently not." 

Mayuri and Kisuke differed vastly, as sacrificed souls for the Hogyoku was already a step past the blond's morals. Kisuke's focus laid in restoring and healing subjects, whereas Mayuri's could be found at the opposite end of the spectrum. 

"You did it purely out of making sure you left your mark on this world, nothing ulterior?" the other questioned. 

"You thought there was something behind it?" 

"I know that you're not very acquainted with the laws; at least you act like you've never heard of them, but I'm sure you've heard of detained female Shinigami being freed during their pregnancy." 

Sure, that had crossed his mind, but when Mayuri had entered Muken after the inspection of a healer, he knew that it was not even a remote possibility. 

"I have, yes, but it was not my main motive." 

The blond rubbed a hand over his forehead, seemingly disappointed. "So, you just needed a donor." 

"Do not get me wrong. It wouldn't do for just anyone to be the father of my offspring; it had to be you. There is no one I admire more or who captivates my attention longer than you do." 

"Except maybe Kurosaki-san..." Kisuke offers, a small hint of jealousy detectable in the his voice. 

"Purely scientific interest. Surely you must be familiar with that." 

"Who says your interest in me wasn't purely scientific?" 

"Oh no, believe me Kisuke, that was definitely not just experimental." Kisuke cleared his throat after the little revelation. "I am sure that has alleviated all of your worries." 

The blond seemed to be searching his body with his eyes, despite the seals being in the way. "Did he hurt you?" 

"Physically? No." His body could withstand a lot of pain because of his enormous supply of reiatsu. The pain or damage to his pride, on the other hand, wounded him more and still gave him bad dreams, from the first time Mayuri hovered above him to the last time, when he gave birth. And then there was that loss... 

"Mentally?" 

He left the unspoken affirmation to the blond. He had never felt such a loss. Admittedly, he had never felt such a connection either. For he was never alone in those months; their pressures were just in development, but he could take such fulfillment knowing he meant something to them while he truly lost everything else... 

"Mayuri will get his deserved fate; I guarantee you that." 

He looked at the determined look in Kisuke's eyes. "But I will not get them back through that," he tells the blond quietly. 

"I would bring them along, but... they need to adjust to their new surroundin - What?" Kisuke looks at him questioningly when his breath hitches. 

"They are alive?!" He bites his own lip because he can feel the quiver of emotion going through him, and he will not show any weakness! 

Kisuke's facial expression turns into a sympathetic look. "He told you that they..." 

"...had not made it," he says in one breath, suppressing the memory of the scientist's grinning face that delivered the news right after the twins were born. His locked down state doesn't remember much, but that is a memory he cannot get rid of. 

He closes his eyes when the blond reaches out, and the warned shout from one of the other occupants has Kisuke stopping just centimeters from touching him, but he can still feel the blond's pressure caressing him in a soothing way. 

"Time to end it."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"It's stupid words baby words!" came Koichi's surly answer, after Kisuke told him to read the kanji on the paper he gave them. They couldn't go to school; he was afraid that Koichi would seriously injure one of the human kids, not to mention that Daichi's odd behavior would raise questions. 

Kisuke didn't want the kids to be taken away from him, not by the Seireitei nor by the human world. He would heal the twins: after all, he had resolved to spend time with them so they could be reformed into 'normal' children. 

He was honestly becoming quite the multitasker; the blond was busy preparing their lunch while at the same time tutoring them. "Come on, begin. If those words are at the level of a baby, then you shouldn't have a problem with them," he said buoyantly. He glanced briefly behind him at the two that were seated at the table. 

Koichi gave a long sigh and began monotonously reading the kanji. "Fish, cat, car-" 

"Oh, wait a sec. Use a bit more enthusiasm; besides, you'll be taking turns in saying a word each." 

"Fish!" yelled Koichi, overly ecstatic so it would meet the standard of enthusiastic. 

Kisuke looked back when Daichi didn't instantly read the next word. 

"It's your turn!" Koichi nudged his brother with a finger as the kid looked around, anywhere but at the sheet of paper, and mumbled barely audible, 

"Cat." Daichi was fidgeting nervously so Kisuke put the preparations for their lunch aside to focus solely on supervising the lesson. 

"Car!" yelled Koichi directly after Daichi before it was the nervous twin's turn again. 

The kid still didn't look at the paper, silently staring in front of him. Before his brother could nudge him again, Kisuke encouraged, "The next word, Daichi." 

"Cat…" came the quiet answer again while Koichi erupted in a fit of giggles. 

"Koichi..." Kisuke warned as he took a place between the twins and held a finger at the next word. Maybe Daichi wasn't following the word order correctly. 

"Hmm…" the kid mumbled, biting his lip nervously, before repeating the same word again. 

Laughter resounded from beside Kisuke. "Koichi, you're going to get another time out if you laugh at your brother again." 

"Then I don't have to read the stupid words." 

"Then you will read them after your time out," Kisuke informed him, to which the kid quickly replied, "then I'm staying here." 

Kisuke turned to fully face Daichi, who seemed to be trying to make himself as small as possible. "You can't read, can you? Why haven't you told me this?" 

"Baby." 

"Okay Koichi, that's it, time for a –" 

"No, no! I'm reading the next word." 

Kisuke gave the kid a look since that was not the next kanji. The little one began reading all the words promptly in order to escape his punishment. 

He should honestly invest his time in teaching Daichi to read instead of trying to scold the other one because while his attention was focused on Koichi, Daichi tried to make a run for it. 

He took a hold of the kid, not giving him a chance to sneak off and avoid him for the rest of the day. "There's nothing to be ashamed of; I'll teach you," he instructed the child as he grabbed a blank paper and began an explanation of the simple writing system of hiragana and katakana, teaching him the sounds plus the exact writing orders. 

With the proper motivation Daichi seemed to somewhat come out of his shell. It would give the kid some much needed confidence in the long run. 

Koichi was of course long since done with reading all the words aloud and began vying for his attention by repeating a single word constantly until Kisuke addressed him specifically. 

"Alright Koichi, well done; you can go off to play." 

But the little one wasn't interested in going off, not when his brother still received all of Kisuke's attention. 

Koichi yanked on his sleeve while Kisuke was in the middle of teaching Daichi the proper strokes. The whole paper became practically unreadable after the smudge sunk into the sheet. 

"What color is the lamb?" 

"Can you wait for a couple of minutes?" he asked while Koichi repeated, 

"What color is the lamb?" The mischievous twinkle in Koichi's eyes was visible even though the kid tried hard to pass off his question as curious innocence. 

"A lamb could be either black or white; it depends on the sheep it came from." 

"No daddy," the kid said with a big smile. "The lamb is red." 

"A lamb is not red." 

The kid nodded his head defiantly. "Yes, it is. And there's little worms burrowed in it and eating it and - " 

"Koichi, enough. Stop saying any of those horrible things." 

"It is red. I seen it." 

The shopkeeper glanced at Daichi, who had wiped the ink away with the sleeve of his shirt, making the smudge inevitably worse. 

"Alright," said Kisuke, putting the lesson aside. If Koichi was so open about any happenings in the facility, he shouldn't shush the kid about it. Even if those were probably things he didn't want to hear. 

"Did Mayuri show you the lamb?" 

"Dr. Mayuri," corrected Koichi, and Kisuke shook his head. "No, he's no doctor, he's far from what a doctor should be. Mayuri is a very bad person." He saw Daichi nodding to his statement. "What did Mayuri show you?" 

"Can I get a cookie?" 

"Yeah, but don't change the subject now." He gave them both a blank paper. "How about drawing me something that Mayuri showed you?" 

Koichi was busy taking two cookies from out of the lowest cupboard, and surprisingly handed one over to his twin, although he probably did that for a reason - knowing Daichi wouldn't want it, so he could eat two instead. - "What do I draw?" he questioned once he was seated again. 

"Anything that Mayuri showed you." 

"Like the lamb?" 

"I don't want to," said Daichi, shoving the paper out of the way. "That's all right; you don't have to." He didn't pressure Daichi. He would rather have the little one take his time. 

Koichi, on the other hand, drew a very vivid picture of a carcass of an animal. The kid normally didn't spend that much time finishing off a picture accurately - he didn't color in between the lines and left it half unfinished from what he had seen in the picture book, but right now, he was completely mesmerized in perfecting his drawing. 

He had said it before, that drawing would be the best strategy of counseling Koichi. 

Urahara let Daichi run out of the kitchen; he was going to have to be confronted about his past demons eventually, but for now he was still free to avoid it. 

And with his twin out of sight, now would be the best time to ask questions about Koichi's understanding of a soul being gone. "Does the lamb…" the kid glanced up from his picture briefly before continuing to work precisely on the finishing touches. "Is the lamb's soul gone?" 

"Daddy," Koichi expressed amusedly, "a lamb does not have a soul." 

Not in the practical human sense that interprets the term as emotional or intellectual energy. In the spiritual sense, it is regarded as someone's life, and that is the meaning of the word soul throughout Shinigami eyes. 

"But, the lamb is gone," said Koichi afterwards. 

"Alright," replied Kisuke. "Did you see it happen?" 

"Yes, like this." Koichi sprang up from his chair to grab a knife from out of the drawer, which Kisuke was quick to take out of his hands. 

"No, we don't play with knives. How about showing me on paper?" 

"Oh, okay," he grabbed his black pencil and began slashing at the drawn lamb with unnecessary force. Kisuke took a hold of the kid's wrist when the pencil broke. "That's enough." 

"I wanted to show you." 

"I get it." The child shrugged nonchalantly. 

Even with Shinigami children it is never a good idea to expose them to violence under the age of twelve, and even then, it can cause serious damage to the brain. The Maggots' nest is completely booked with individuals who have lost their grip on reality. Kisuke knows them better than anyone else. 

"Did Mayuri hurt the lamb?" He still needed to hear it out of the kid's mouth. 

"Dr. Mayuri? No," the kid turned to glance at him. "I did, daddy." 

Kisuke looked intently in the eyes of the little kid, hoping in some sense that it would be a joke. Not that it was a subject worth joking around about. 

But the kid's smile stayed dead serious. "Why?" 

"It was hurt and making a lot of noise, so I helped it," he finished with a bright smile. "I helped it cross to the next world," the little one added after Kisuke kept blankly watching the kid, doing his best to hide his disturbed grimace. 

"Who hurt the animal before you did? Was it Mayuri?" 

"Dr. Mayuri." 

"Mayuri is not a doctor." 

"Yes, he is." Koichi nodded his head expressively as extra emphasis. 

"Mayuri is a very bad - " Kisuke was in the midst of repeating his earlier statement when Koichi threw the pencil away and walked out of the room. 

The shopkeeper stared at the mutilated picture of the lamb, trying to come up with a possible reason for the kid's denial of Mayuri's bad personality and his intent behind 'helping' the lamb. 

Toddlers needed to gradually learn and try out what was defined as proper behavior, to experience what they could get away with and to understand right from wrong. Daichi and Koichi needed to be figuratively brought back to that early stage to learn what determined something as being bad. 

He didn't know exactly what happened in the facility, but if cruelty on animals was one of the horrors that his children were exposed to, it could have desensitized them. Overexposing cruelty would have a bad effect on their morality regarding living beings. And just because Aizen was their other parent, didn't mean that it was accepted for the kid to behave unprincipled. On the contrary, it would give the Seireitei all the more reason to interfere with their upbringing. 

After all, they experienced firsthand what Aizen was capable of and would not risk letting the criminal's offspring generate that same behavior. 

And exactly because Koichi's responses had raised Kisuke's brows on more than one occasion, he decided to train the twins' reiatsu, to steer them in the right direction again for the usage of their powers. This way he could also have a better understanding of what they were capable of. 

"But, you said no fighting," Koichi phrased the shopkeeper's forewarning in a tone so pure it wouldn't have hidden his excitement, even if the kid tried his hardest to do so. 

"Not with each other if the intention is to hurt your brother. Sparring, though, is accepted, but only for educational purposes." 

"Oh." sighed Koichi, looking at his twin that ignored him in favor of looking through his underground training field. 

He was probably expecting too much: they weren't mature enough to settle their differences in a peaceful way. The twins already resorted to using all that they learned so far on each other every time they disagreed. 

"Actually, you're only allowed to spar with me, and only when it's time to improve your skills. Thus, here in the field for training purposes." 

A training session once a week, in between their lessons, was more than enough at their age. 

"Oh…" the kid's plummeting excitement levels were a huge contrast to his previous exclamation. 

"Don't worry; it's going to be fun for the both of you." 

Koichi's interest in play fighting had dwindled so far at that point that he turned his attention to the portal in Kisuke's basement. He curiously inspected the slats of the doorway before jumping through it. The curious twin was evidently bewildered at the fact that he didn't travel through it like he had the last two times. 

The child safety lock Kisuke had installed was a needed addition to the portal, what with so many children running through his house nowadays… 

"I want you two to try everything in knocking off my hat," Kisuke explained buoyantly. 

Daichi cocked his head to the side, worrying his lip between his teeth in a contemplative manner while his brother snorted off to the side, "Pfft, easy." 

"Everything?" questioned Daichi at the same time that Koichi fired off Hainawa. Urahara briefly registered that the kid was capable of manipulating the bakudo spell so it aimed at entangling his head instead. It was certainly an inventive way to use the spell. 

He indulged the kid by making a show of dismantling the technique, so it didn't look too obvious that it was effortlessly evaded. The point, after all, was to encourage them. "Everything," he replied to the other twin as he prepared for Koichi's second attack after the kid drew a triangle in the air. 

There seemed to be a certain repetition of spells that the energetic twin preferred to generate. Also, his incantations sometimes lacked certain consistency. The recitation of the same spell would be pronounced poorly or a whole sentence would be left out, which could be a disadvantage when used in battle. 

But as far as Kisuke could experience, Koichi's overall ability to manipulate his own reiatsu was what saved the spell's effectiveness in the end. In fact, Koichi could probably utilize a kidou perfectly without incantation at all; that is if it kept the kid's concentration long enough… 

The little one's reiatsu was certainly above average, but without a properly achieved balance in one's reiatsu, the impact to cause any damage declined greatly. It's still better than lacking the right amount of spiritual energy though, since that would result in serious injury if the caster was inexperienced. This was undeniably the reason children under the age of nine were exempt from learning kidou in the Seireitei: their impulsivity was not without risk when it involved harmful spells. Not to say that it wasn't done; noble children, for example, were obliged by their clan leaders to have basic kidou knowledge as young as seven. 

But even if he indulged the kid by acting like one of his spells did manage some destruction, Koichi lost interest entirely when he couldn't reach his goal. 

Out of nowhere, his son yelled, "I'm done!" kicked in the sand for good measure, and climbed back out of the basement. 

He couldn't say for certain if the kid's inattentiveness was the cause of his easy surrender, or if all children that age exhibited difficulty in staying focused when not being able to get what they wanted. Though, he was beginning to believe that Koichi was the exception to every rule. Ururu and Jinta were eight when he took them in, so he couldn't possibly compare them. 

Looking around, Kisuke became aware that he was the only one still situated in the underground terrain. Daichi must have snuck out during his brother's commotion. 

Maybe six years old was perhaps too young… 

Kisuke had to take back those words when Daichi revealed himself suddenly, —from his hiding bakudo spell #26— and could barely deflect Geki from paralyzing him while the kid simultaneously linked the bakudo spell with a hado. His poor hat was minutely saved from a concentrated electric discharge. 

The kid had effectively taken him by surprise, quite literally lurking in the shadows and patiently awaiting the most opportune moment. 

He turned to look at the little one who had shunpo'd behind him during his evasion of the attacks. Daichi stood there, smiling bashfully with… his hat…in hand?... 

Kisuke's hand immediately felt around the general area where his trusted striped hat was normally safely out of reach, and the kid let out a giggle. 

"Well… you did it, Daichi!" He ruffled his son's hair, who blew his bangs back out of his eyes while beaming proudly. 

Daichi had a far better grasp of reiatsu mastery as far as kidou spells were concerned and, thus, stronger attacks. He just needed to be able to balance the high levels of pressure properly. And meditation was the best way of learning such control. 

The kid wouldn't feel so pressured and maybe he'd be able to find some peace internally. 

"How do you know so many spells? Who taught you all of that?" 

Since Daichi couldn't read, the kid must have learned it privately; one on one, though the idea of Mayuri mentoring Daichi personally was not a happy thought. 

Kisuke took back his hat as the little one held it out, and squatted down to address Daichi properly. 

The kid shrugged. "It's all here," he said, motioning to his head. 

"Aha." The shopkeeper nodded. "But, how did all that information get there?" he questioned curiously. 

Daichi shrugged his shoulders again. 

"Maybe someone showed you how to do it?" 

The kid seemed to think about his statement for a while before replying, "No." 

Daichi had utilized his spells without an incantation effortlessly; it had to be demonstrated somehow. "But, someone must have told you how to use your reiatsu so it can be manipulated into a spell." 

His son contemplated a bit longer this time, until he finally realized that he needed to answer, "No." 

"Okay, you know what: we're not going to break our heads over it. You've got the knowhow and that's the most important," Kisuke reassured eagerly. "I'm going to teach you something incredibly useful." 

It would at least be so for Daichi, because Koichi and sitting still for an appropriate amount of time did not go well together. Of course, Koichi still needed to learn that, too. 

After successfully getting Daichi's twin brother to join the lesson again, the troublemaker couldn't remain in the pose of reflection for more than five minutes. Channeling his energy into a positive and relaxing state to keep it under control was just a disaster. 

Inner peace is what Daichi missed and therefore welcomed greatly, but Koichi as a bundle of nerves was just not having it. 

Kisuke could accept Koichi slumping over from his lotus position or getting distracted by randomly drawing his name in the sand, but throwing said handful of sand at his brother was definitely not okay. 

A quick shield protected the unaware peaceful twin while the shopkeeper grabbed the kid by that arm, after his quick reflex. "Koichi, why did you do that?" 

"Because, I wanted to." 

Kisuke studied the other's determined expression that betrayed no feeling of guilt whatsoever or any sort of basic display of regret when someone was caught red handed, unlike the kid's incident of sneaking candy from out of his shop. 

"You don't do that," he expressed while his son corrected, "Yes, I just did." 

Maybe he would understand the concept of remorse better if he was actually forced to show it. "Say that you're sorry to your brother." 

"Why?" 

"Because your brother is concentrating on something right now; you can't distract him. Furthermore, throwing sand in someone's face is just not nice." 

Koichi snorted, "I. Do. Not. Care." 

"Still, you're going to say that you're sorry." Kisuke motioned at the twin that was still peacefully meditating. 

"But daddy…" It didn't sound like a complaint or a whine, but rather like he found joy in something. "It's not nice to distract Daichi," and he went off with a big smile that looked incredibly self-satisfied. 

-0- 

"Wow!" 

Kisuke stood in one of the biggest toy stores close to his neighborhood along with his two sons whose eyes seemed to sparkle at seeing the rows upon rows of toys on the shelves. 

He answered Koichi's exclaimed amazement with a, "I don't think that you were expecting this." 

Koichi had nosed through his mail a couple of days ago and found the leaflet for the tenth anniversary for this store. He had hauled the info folder explicitly with him each time they sat at the kitchen table, —whether it was for diner or school work— not so subtly letting Kisuke know what he would like to have for his birthday, which wasn't for another nine months. 

Urahara decided to take them out for a treat after giving them their Monday math lesson. They were each making progress in their own way; sure, Daichi was very much still at the beginner level in any subject he taught them, but the kid was actively participating and that in itself deserved its own reward, which was a trip to the toy store. And it had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that the folder said, 'Pay one full price, get the second one reduced for at least 10%'. 

Tutoring them was becoming a daily morning session; however, while he didn't want the difference between the twins too noticeably pronounced, for fear of downsizing Daichi's newfound confidence in schoolwork, after multiple lessons and Koichi looking for any attention after he finished within 15 minutes, it was obvious that Koichi was already far too advanced for Kisuke to be tutoring them at the same level, especially for the subjects reading, writing and math. As for news about the human world, they were at least somewhat evenly knowledgeable about that. 

He had to diminish their excitement all too soon when Koichi phrased, "Is this all for us?" 

"No, you're allowed to choose one thing." 

Toy stores were a personal hell to any parent but a true heaven to children. They had enough toys at home, but because they were never able to choose the stuff themselves, —since all of it was normally meant for the kids he babysat — he took his chance at visiting that hell. Even though he probably would be stuck here for hours. 

"Just one thing?" Koichi pouted. 

"Those who can't appreciate the smallest gestures aren't worthy of receiving the biggest." 

The kid slumped over unhappily but still took off in one of the directions. 

Kisuke glanced at Daichi, who seemed lost in the big store, doing his infamous imitation of a statue. At his noticeably uncomfortable state, Kisuke held out a hand — that seemed to work in boosting the twin's determination. 

The kid didn't grab a hold of his offered hand, but he did take a hold of the sleeve of Urahara's haori. Well… even though it was a bit of an awkward sight, he reminded himself that Daichi was making small progressive steps in social skills. 

The quiet twin kept looking at the various toys from a distance, not even putting one finger on the merchandise. 

Kisuke had first led the kid to the Lego like section; constructing and building up the blocks throughout a plan was a fine way of improving their dexterity, but as he explained the general idea of the product, Daichi's ambiguous gaze told Kisuke that the kid yet again was unsure whether he wanted it or not. 

The last thing he wanted was a repeat of their visit to the boutique. "Okay, maybe not exactly what you're looking for." He put the box back in its place before steering Daichi into the next aisle. It happened to be more of a creative section, which would probably suit Daichi's brother more. 

He called said twin and Koichi came bounding over to them. The shopkeeper looked at the figurine in Koichi's hand, unpackaged and no barcode in sight. "You're not tearing off the packages, are you?" 

"Yes," the kid said happily. "I want this one." 

"You're not allowed to do that; you can only open it after we buy it. I thought I already explained that to you." Kisuke said after repressing the urge to scold the little one. His warning had gone in one ear and out the other… He didn't want to end up paying for any 'damaged' goods and told Koichi to stay near them from now on. 

"But, how can I choose it when I can't play with it?" 

"You've obviously tested the object already, but refrain from doing so in the future, okay?" 

"Okay." 

He asked the little one to show him the aisle where he got the figure, as Urahara was afraid that it might not be the only opened package. He was about to follow Koichi when Daichi halted him with a demanding tug on his sleeve. 

The kid had apparently found his choice since he was pointing at something. Kisuke's gaze traveled towards the item, only to furrow his brows at it. The product that held Daichi's interest was glittery wrapping paper. What in the world could the kid possibly do with that? 

"Maybe… keep that option open, but it won't hurt to look a little further." At least he declined the kid's request in the softest manner possible. 

Kisuke followed the peak of Koichi's reiatsu into a nearby aisle, but he couldn't find the twin in the pink corridor of the girls' section. "Koichi?" This was obviously not where he got the robot figurine from. 

It was indeed becoming his personal hell, since here he was searching once again for one of his kids. 

Rounding the corner, he walked past some stuffed animals as Koichi sprang out from in between them, making a growling sound as if he was one of the stuffed tigers that he held in his hands. 

"Where is your robot?" 

"I don't want it; I want this." He shook the stuffed animal by the scruff of its neck. 

"Did you at least put the robot back in its place?" 

"Yes, I did daddy," he answered in an angelic tone. 

Kisuke glanced warily down a couple of aisles to make sure that Koichi hadn't left a mess anywhere before he realized that Daichi was following him closely, chosen item in hand. "Oh, you've found your choice?" he asked as the inconclusive twin held out… a pink pony? 

"Daichi… this is actually-" for girls? Could he forbid his son from playing with something, just because there was a stigma about boys playing with girly toys or the other way around? Gender roles were more like guidelines, and it's not that he could really judge his son when Kisuke didn't exactly follow the expected course when it came to a partner either. 

But, Kisuke would never have played with ponies or dolls when he was a kid. Although growing up in the Seireitei is like going back in time - the only thing kids could play with were toy zanpakuto made from sticks. His youth was spent roughhousing in the outside, though he never would have been interested in feminine toys. 

And he was sure that neither would Aizen… even though Aizen seemed to be interested in butterflies… 

"Uh…" He glanced at the kid's bright smile. No, he would not force his son into anything. "…sure," and he smiled back brightly. 

"Daddy!" Kisuke turned around, barely catching the toy shuriken that Koichi had aimed in the direction of his head. "I chose this instead." He held out the 'Ninja-set' —that had already lost some of its shuriken and kunai - Koichi had probably chucked them somewhere, though hopefully not at any people. 

Before Koichi could launch his next attack, or once again change his mind, he took them to the queue of the cashier. On his way, he did find tearing of a package that resembled Koichi's figurine. Giving Koichi a look, the child smiled innocently back. 

Feeling that he was about to get reprimanded, Koichi turned away from his gaze in an obvious way to distract himself… and ended up looking inquisitively into the cart of the queue next to them. 

"Koichi, don't you do-" 

"But! I want this instead…" he whined, switching the ninja set for a glowing laser sword that he found in the cart. 

Kisuke apologized to the owners of the cart after struggling to get the item back from his sulking son. 

The waiting line couldn't go fast enough when Koichi set his attention on Daichi's chosen item. "What did you choose?" 

After the twins had their bickering of, 'You can't see!' and 'Show me!' Daichi let his twin catch a glimpse of the pink pony. 

"Haha! Daichi's a girl!" he yelled. 

"Am not!" his twin yelled back, hitting his brother with the pony in the process. 

Kisuke had to physically split them apart because neither could keep his hands to himself. 

He almost sang when he finally managed to survive the store. It was guaranteed to be a long while before they were allowed to accompany him again. 

On their way back home, the shopkeeper stopped at a convenience store; the fruits and vegetables that he needed were displayed at a stall outside of the small reseller. He glanced through the groceries while his twins kept themselves busy with the toys they just bought - Well, Daichi at least. Koichi had thrown the rest of his ninja set off into random directions, and stubbornly refused to go and get them again. The kid was sulking currently, because the ninja set had long since lost his interest. 

"I did not want that!" Koichi gritted through clenched teeth, kicking out at the wooden display of the vegetables. 

Kisuke warned the twin to quit that attitude. "If you can't behave, you won't be allowed to accompany me anymore to choose a toy. You need to learn that making choices in life is inevitable; this way you'll think twice the next time we visit the store." 

The kid glared at his brother, who held his pony underneath an arm. "But! It's not fair! Daichi has something. And. I. Don't!" 

"It's a good lesson for-" Kisuke greeted one of his neighbors, an old lady that frequently visited his shop to buy candy for her grandchildren. 

Her dog that she was walking jumped playfully against Daichi's legs as Daichi seemed to instantly freeze. The shopkeeper soothed the kid's visible fear by squatting down and demonstrating that the canine meant no harm, encouraging Daichi to pet the enthusiastic dog. Interceding and outwardly showing the little one what to do helped demolish Daichi's irrational distress. 

The older woman took the opportunity to catch up with Kisuke; she was naturally curious about his kids. 

He had told the story so many times now that it almost became natural. — Of course, as a human she wasn't privy to the whole truth. 

In the meantime, Koichi joined his brother in petting the animal, although it looked more like forcefully patting in Koichi's case. Kisuke attentively watched the kid out of the corner of his eye, and could intervene on time when Koichi latched on to his brother's toy. He ended the tug of war with the plush pony's neck by dragging the kid away from his brother. 

"Oh, what's wrong?" the older lady asked Koichi when the kid crossed both arms over his chest and glared at everything and anything. 

"My brother gets a toy and I don't." 

Kisuke furrowed his brows at the kid's voice and expression that suddenly turned 180 degrees in an effective way to garner sympathy. It was becoming quite clear that Koichi was aware of how to manipulate people with his emotions, which is something that needed to be corrected. Such behavior left unattended could potentially be used for ulterior motives. 

All is innocent now, but Kisuke was beginning to get slightly worried over Koichi. The kid knew all too well how to behave to get certain things done, and that was not okay. 

He had to decline the handover of 2400 yen to the child. "No really, he did receive his toy, but he threw it away," he repeated after she insisted that Koichi could have the money to buy something new. She was old and her hearing was a little damaged at that age. 

Koichi glared at Kisuke when he took the money from the kid to give it back to his neighbor. 

"Next time, maybe," she comforted Koichi while the little one blatantly stared at her. 

"You only have two teeth," he said afterwards, pointing at her. 

"Koichi!" 

The blond was glad that the older woman's hearing failed when she misunderstood it. "No, you have more than two teeth," she reassured Koichi. 

"No! You have-" Kisuke muffled the kid's speech, said a quick goodbye to her and called Daichi to go back home —without the needed groceries. 

"It is rude to say everything that's on your mind." He told Koichi once they were out of earshot. His son ripped his hand out of Kisuke's grasp, angrily walking ahead of him. Daichi on the other hand stayed close, grasping Kisuke's haori in that odd way of his while his other hand still held the plushy. 

"I liked the doggy." 

"Did you?" The dark blond head nodded eagerly. "When she visits the shop, I'll ask if you can play with the doggy again, alright?" 

"Alright." 

Daichi was becoming a lot more vocal; actively participating with the kid in any lesson had been a good choice because the kid was becoming better at expressing himself. Even if Daichi still acted too immature for his age, the little one was making huge steps. 

-0- 

"You haven't finished yet." Urahara directed Koichi's attention from his brother —who was leading his pony by a cord, acting as if it was a dog— back towards his equations. 

"But, Daichi is distracting me; so rude!" 

"He is not purposely distracting you. You can easily invest your attention towards what you're supposed to be doing." 

"Yes! He is!" 

Kisuke could already bet on the pony's short life, aside from Koichi's predator like gazes, Daichi's lead was too long and the toy got stuck behind random objects. And when that happened, Daichi tried to get the plushy loose by forcefully yanking on the cord. The stuffed animal's neck was already limply slumped over due to the overly tight cord wrapped around its neck, and because of Daichi's tight grip whenever he decided to hold his 'doggy'. 

"But! He does!" Koichi repeated, still making a big drama in order to avoid his equations. While his brother had long since rounded the corner; completely out of sight and hearing range. 

"Are the equations too difficult?" 

The dark blond head shook vigorously. "No, far from it." 

"Then you should hurry. Daichi has finished all of his work for today already." 

He wasn't purposely setting them up against each other, but Kisuke knew that provoking the energetic twin in a little competition with his brother would give Koichi a little push. It was just friendly competitiveness posed as good motivation for the twin. Any other sort of motivation that promised a reward afterwards only aided in distracting Koichi, since it was an excellent excuse to divest his thoughts unto something other than his schoolwork. With Koichi's short attention span, a competition was simply the best strategy for getting him to successfully do his work. 

The kid shook his head again at Kisuke's comment, accompanied by a disagreeable expression stuck on his pouting face. 

Kisuke motioned at the stack of papers that consisted of Daichi's 'homework,' to which Koichi shrugged. 

He simultaneously felt Isane trying to gain entry through the portal; opening the connection he moved into the direction of the ladder that lead down into his basement. He left Koichi alone with his equations, inadvertently giving the kid the impression that he trusted the little one in finishing off his work alone. 

Urahara hadn't even descended one step before he heard Koichi leaving his seat and shuffling through Daichi's papers. 

He chuckled to himself, as he was a 100% sure that the kid's equations wouldn't be left aside for much longer. 

Daichi almost ran into him on his way down; the kid shielded himself behind Kisuke's leg while telling Isane a resolute, "I stay with-" and yanked on Kisuke's haori in emphasis as a way of mentioning him. 

Not that it mattered that he was practically pointed out instead of being called dad; Daichi was after all still adjusting. 

"Oh, don't worry," she reassured with a soft smile. "I'm not here for you, nor for your brother. I'm here for-" and pointed at Kisuke. 

Daichi kept looking at her from underneath his bangs so Kisuke, believing Isane was most likely here for something confidential, encouraged the kid to walk his doggy. – What she wanted may or may not relate to the kids. 

"Your second request to see Aizen has been declined," the 4th division's captain said once Daichi had climbed the ladder while his pony was gradually being hauled up by its cord. 

"Because I made him talk?" 

Isane nodded. "You decided to ignore the safety procedures and therefore won't be allowed anywhere near him anymore." 

Probably because they were more afraid of the fact that he could release Aizen from out of prison. He wasn't planning to escape though; he wasn't going to run away his whole life. No, it was time that Soul Society came clean on its corruption that was so obviously happening in the noble clans. 

Because Aizen being kept in a paralyzing state and forced to keep silent meant that there were more people involved in Mayuri's dirty experiments, and he wasn't talking about his accomplices that worked as doctors in the scientist's institute, but about the ones behind Mayuri's curtain. The ones that are protected by complete immunity; the noble clans. 

"I need to make some sort of appeal in favor of releasing Aizen from prison." 

Everything in its time of course, since directly accusing Central 46 without any proof would force the nobles to mute Kisuke in some way. He needed actual evidence before that confrontation. What he could do was apply for a second meeting with the help of the twins. 

"So, you need me to confirm the necessity of Aizen's presence around the twins?" 

That would be a step in the right direction; Aizen as a carrier should have some rights, the same as any detained female Shinigami that gave birth. But that formed the contradiction, since Central 46 did not view Aizen as a carrier, but as a psychopathic murder. - And Aizen as a criminal did not own any rights. 

"Maybe I need to change the appeal in favor of the twins?" he mused aloud. 

Isane cleared her throat. "You know that he needs to be evaluated first." 

"And how will that be done?" 

"We need to gain insight into Aizen's thoughts – his current feelings and emotions. You spoke with him; do you think he's amenable to that?" she asked him. 

Kisuke mimicked his son's indecisive response; nodding his head lightly while simultaneously negating his indication. "A psychoanalytic approach? I don't know… He was very talkative with me, but, anyone else… Aizen might play his mind games again." 

Because that was the danger with Aizen; once he thought to rule over someone, the brunet would be the one to evaluate that person's psyche instead of the other way around.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Aizen refuses to be open about any emotion, feeling, or experience that relates to him on a personal basis. He turns the questions around, refusing to answer anything personal and decides to be the one that's doing the questioning." 

It was just as Kisuke had feared might happen. Sousuke wouldn't trust the psychologist after Mayuri's deeds. Not that Aizen would have let himself be interrogated under any other circumstances. 

"I can only conclude that he doesn't accept the help that's given to him, for he only uses it for his own gain. His manipulation-" 

"Oh wait, hold on," Kisuke told the psychologist. The man that Isane chose to be Aizen's counsellor didn't exactly seem too willing to help the brunet. Well, Isane didn't exactly have a choice here; Central 46 recommended the psychologist, which was obvious by his age. The older man had been the advisor of the previous members of Central 46 and was present throughout the ordeal of Aizen betraying Soul Society. The problem was that if the man talked like that to Central 46, he would be attesting against Aizen, instead of in favour of the detained brunet, which was obviously done on purpose. "I'm sorry, but in whose defence are you pleading here?" 

"What Dr Higashi is trying to tell you, is that without a general insight into Aizen's mentality, we can't be certain of his stability when in contact with his kids." 

It seemed like Isane sprang up to the psychologist's defence immediately. Kisuke understood that the children's best interest should be taken into consideration first and foremost. But, what good would it do to judge Aizen beforehand? 

If anything, the denied contact with his children would most likely have a negative effect on the other. Even if Aizen had intentionally become pregnant and realised that the kids would be taken away from him... 

Kisuke glanced from the psychologist towards the 4th division's taicho. "Wouldn't it be better to evaluate Aizen after he has had contact with his children?" 

"Aizen has no bond with his children; there's a possibility that he might atta-" 

The blond interrupted the older psychologist once again. Seriously, where was he getting his data from? "Tell me how can he bond if he's not allowed to see the twins? Besides, shouldn't you be aware that there are detrimental effects of incarceration on the relationship between parent and child? He first should get a decent chance to prove himself." 

"With detained females, perhaps that are convicted of non-recidivistic crimes and certainly none who are guilty of violent crimes. Yes, those get a chance with visitation rights, as long as they are mentally stable that is." 

"Reunification should be the top priority," repeated Kisuke with extra determination. No use in arguing over what could or couldn't work; the man was biased against Aizen, like so many in the Seireitei. 

He turned towards Isane, effectively halting the psychologist's next speech that further condemned the brunet without a proper evaluation. Two or three sessions hardly proves Aizen's instability. Central 46 just didn't want to spend too much time on him. "There should be an alternative to that." The blond not so subtly pointed in the general direction of the psychologist, who symbolised advocacy in favour of Central 46's judgment on Aizen. "Let me talk to him again; I'll get him to cooperate." 

Isane didn't seem to be fully against his idea. Kisuke could see that she would agree in an instant if the other wasn't there to steer the whole case towards failure. 

"You're prohibited from having contact with him." 

"I'm sorry, but are you suddenly leading the 4th division?" Kisuke asked the psychologist who obviously worked eagerly on declining all of Kisuke's requests. "It's something that I'm teaching the twins right now: you only talk when spoken to in a civilised mature conversation. They're six by the way," he reprimanded Dr Higashi in a neutral sounding manner. The other gave a smile resembling a sneer. "We need to focus on establishing a decent bond between Aizen and the twins. He's certainly no threat to them. The Hogyoku absorbed Aizen's desire to conceive, meaning he actively yearned to be a parent; it was by no means a whim because the orb does not grant simple compulsions." 

Of course, this goes without the undisclosed truth of Aizen's wish being a ruse or not. Although the objective to generate offspring as an act of carrying on the legacy is normally decided by the two parties involved, regardless of Aizen's choice to keep it secret, there is no further harm done in wanting a child. And with Kisuke in full custody of their twins, any plans Aizen would have in mentoring the kids' powers to form an opposition against the Seireitei would obviously not be something the blond would allow to happen. 

"He manipulated the orb for his own gain for all we know," judged the psychologist. 

"That's impossible, you can't manipulate the Hogyoku. Desires will only manifest into a reality if they were strong intentions materialising from deep within. That longing can't be influenced in any way." 

"Says you." 

"I created the orb; do you think I'm incapable of comprehending my own creations?" 

Aizen's Hogyoku was incomplete, nothing more than a guidance to Kisuke's own orb. Aizen doesn't create anything from scratch; the brunet steals another's ideas and implements them, mostly in complete opposition to the true creator's intent. 

"I didn't say that," said the older guy, attempting to defuse the quickly deteriorating disagreement. "But you as an engineer must know some loopholes, and I'm sure he isn't entirely clueless on those either." 

Indeed, Aizen's cunning mind was solely focused on finding any flaws, not that it would matter. "He's not in full control of the orb in order to go around the general function of the Hogyoku." Like he said, Aizen is incapable of manipulating the orb, not that anyone else with full control of the Hogyoku couldn't. "The orb only has one master." The psychologist looked in confusion at Kisuke. "You're looking at him right now." 

Higashi grimaced, so the blond turned his full attention towards the only one that was willing to help him. "We need to settle on an agreement with Central 46. I'll behave from now on, I promise, but, I need to be able to verbally communicate with him. For all I care, put a whole legion of guards around us." She should be able to convince Central 46 with the right words. "I'm doing this for the twins, Isane," Kisuke pressured lightly. 

He saw her share a glance with the other one in the room. "I'll see what I can arrange." 

"Thank you," he whispered. 

"But I can't promise anything; it's ultimately the nobles who decide." 

"I understand." He made sure to give them a bow as a token of his gratitude before he left the 4th division. 

"Urahara-san?!" 

Kisuke looked behind him, on his way back, seeing the sixth division's vice-captain running towards him. 

"Long time no see." 

"Do you need me to babysit again?" he asked the redhead knowingly. 

"What? No, I actually came to ask you something." Probably something about the twins, but for once that didn't turn out to be the main point in addressing him. "Rukia and I are holding a bonding ceremony; we actually would like it if you'd be there." 

The redhead must have convinced the Clan-head of the noble council in consenting to their bond. Because even with Kuchiki Byakuya's approval, the bond would be illegitimate as long as the Clan-head hadn't given his permission. After all, Renji Abarai was not a noble. 

Renji grinned from ear to ear. "Yeah, Kuchiki-taicho actually threw in a good word for me." 

"Congratulations! It's about time; Ichika's turning six this year." 

"I know, and her parents are finally officially bonded," he beamed proudly. "Are you coming then?" 

"Am I allowed to bring the twins?" 

Renji was aware through Rukia, who no doubt heard the news from Ichigo. "Of course; why wouldn't they be allowed to come? There will be plenty of kids around who they can enjoy themselves with." 

Enjoy? Daichi was extremely introverted while Koichi was overly extroverted to the point of being a little too excited... "Sure." Nonetheless, they would be able to mingle with the crowd a bit, something that was necessary based on their psychologist's advice. 

"I'll send you an invite," Abarai promised. 

Once home Kisuke was bombarded by the twins who shunpo'd in full speed to get to him first. Both spoke up at the same time, so he couldn't understand what they were trying to make clear until Yoruichi and her partner joined them in the basement. 

"Kisuke, really I tried, but someone just couldn't keep his mouth shut," his friend told him while glaring at her lover with a meaningful look. 

"What?" growled Grimmjow. "All I said was-" 

"You said enough." 

"Alright," Kisuke interrupted the bickering couple. "What's going on here?" 

Koichi yanked on his haori like the kids always seemed to do in order to gain his attention. "Where's our mommy?" 

Oh... 

"I think it's time to go," remarked the former Espada quickly, going on his way to get their own three troublemakers upstairs. 

Yoruichi apologised a second time, explaining how Grimmjow had gotten tired of the twins' quarrels and had, without thinking, explicitly blurted out the words, 'resemblance to their mommy' in the presence of the kids. 

"Oh well, I can't keep it from them forever." Daichi and Koichi were bound to see Aizen someday, hopefully soon. 

And so, he ended up with the two seated at the table, ready to inform them of their other parent. Kisuke was sure that Koichi was already aware of the concept of having a mother and a father, but his brother, on the other hand, was in dire need of a little explanation. 

"Do you know how you came to be here?" he questioned Daichi specifically. 

The little one looked nervously at his brother, before shaking his head. 

That was already getting good... 

"I know," Koichi told him. "Through the ladder." 

This was going to be a lot more difficult than he had presumed. He idly scratched a hand through his blond hair. "No. I mean every child has had a mommy and a daddy initially." Regardless of one parent deciding to flee or the kid being offered up for adoption, it always starts the same. "Do you understand that?" 

"Boys have a penis and girls have a vagina," Koichi exclaimed in a tone that bespoke his pleasure about being so well informed. 

Daichi looked at his brother with wide eyes, already completely lost at this point. 

"Right, and when a mommy and a daddy really love each other, a baby is born." It was very much simplified, but at their age, they didn't need to know more than that. 

"In the mommy's tummy," nodded Koichi eagerly, always anxious to have his say in the conversation. 

Kisuke quickly tried to pass that step, since Daichi's facial expression suggested that the kid thought the mother would eat the child. He assured the little one that was not the case after seeing the look of horror. 

"Anyway," he needed to get to the pinnacle of his statement here. "Your situation is a little bit different, however since you two had two daddies instead." The self-satisfied look of Daichi's twin turned into puzzlement. "But wait, it won't be that confusing if I show you." Kisuke drew a quick sketch of the Hogyoku. 

All the orb's data was destroyed when he wanted to dismantle the orb, so he had to make do with the means at his disposal. "This is a special object," he tried to word the clarification in a simplified manner similar to the birds and the bees; just the general idea behind it. 

"So, if I want a cookie, I get a cookie." Nope, no simple whims were enacted by the Hogyoku, only deep desires, but Kisuke nodded anyways. There's no need for them to be more informed on the orb. "Your other parent has this special object implanted into his body." 

"Does that hurt?" Koichi questioned in childlike curiousness, always interrupting him freely to get an answer to pressing matters. 

"I reckon it might." He left out the details of Aizen turning into a cocoon, or exploding as a butterfly. All those transformations weren't really a necessity of getting to his point and would only distract them further. "But because of this," Kisuke pointed at the drawn orb in emphasis, "your other daddy could carry a baby." He pointed in the general area of his abdomen afterwards, "much like a female does." He could practically see the light bulb turning on in his son's head. 

"He has a vagina," the kid concluded. 

Kisuke had been well acquainted with Aizen's lower half, and the brunet certainly lacked that part. 

"What's a vagina?" Daichi asked in complete confusion. 

They completely missed the point... "Nothing you need to worry about, yet," replied Kisuke quickly before Koichi could explain it to his twin. This wasn't exactly the kind of conversation he wanted to have with them at such an early age. "But do you both understand where I'm going with this?" 

Kisuke looked at the two darker blonds who smiled brightly back at him. Okay, maybe they did pay attention long enough, before Daichi called out happily, "No." 

"I do," nodded Koichi, for once refraining from making fun of his brother and turning to face his twin. "Our other daddy is the mommy," the kid informed his brother while gesturing wildly. 

Kisuke smiled warmly. It was adorable how sweet they could be to each other if they wanted to... 

"Where is mommy?" 

He didn't want to involve Mayuri in the explanation for fear of provoking the children's own bad experiences with the 'doctor'. But, at the same time, it would give the kids a reason to bond with Sousuke. It was bad enough that they wouldn't be able to feel Aizen's pressure, so any recognisable element that connected them to their father was welcome. 

"Mayuri-" Koichi was quick to correct him again, although Kisuke left it at that, not keen on igniting their disagreement on that matter, "still has your father, but I will save him; don't worry." Urahara also told them to call their 'mommy' father from now on, since Aizen wouldn't appreciate being emasculated, despite being the one who birthed them. 

He obviously left out the fact that their carrier was locked up in prison, because how would he have gone about that? 'Your father did very bad things and that's why he won't be allowed to roam free anymore?'... The children's comprehension of good vs. evil was already completely disturbed. It was best to leave it at that. 

-0- 

"We went a little too fast last time, so we're taking some steps back. Koichi and Daichi aren't ready yet to communicate about their problems; they need to build up some trust with Dr Yamanashi first and feel comfortable in a new environment." 

The room that held the kids' therapy session previously had been completely transformed into a kid-friendly playroom because the best way to look into a child's soul was through observing their play time. They can freely express themselves without feeling obligated to explain anything. This was mostly used with children under the age of six, but with victims of Mayuri's experimentations, it became the best method in trying to understand the little ones' suffered traumas. 

The twins were also allowed to stay in the room together now since copying his brother's behaviour regarding adults would encourage Daichi to relax a little more. Daichi, when alone, froze completely and refused to move or cooperate at all. 

Even now the little one had gone into hysterics the moment he was separated from Urahara. The twins were currently in the room meant for their therapy session, but Daichi stood still yet again, neither moving nor talking. 

Dr Yamanashi entered the room with a golden retriever. The psychologist stayed at a distance from Daichi and squatted down while commanding the dog to sit down next to her before she greeted the twins cheerfully. "Someone told me that you like animals." 

Daichi reacted as usual, turning his head away so he didn't have to look at her anymore and invested his attention downwards. His gaze locked on something on the ground. 

Koichi came over immediately, petting the dog, while Yamanashi tried to encourage his twin brother to do the same. 

"Does it have a name?" the curious twin asked, scrutinising the dog. 

"Yes, she does. Her name is Aoi." She showed the dog's light blue collar that had kanji printed on a silver tag. "You can come and play with the dog." It was directly addressed to Daichi, but the little one's focus still resided on the same spot. "She can even do some tricks." 

Koichi instantly wanted to be the one to demonstrate the tricks with Aoi. Yamanashi gave the kid some dog treats, explaining that they were going to be used as positive reinforcement. When Koichi understood the general gist of it, she told him to give a couple of the treats to his brother, should Daichi decide to join. 

Kisuke knew that that wouldn't turn out successfully; he had, after all, tried to engage the children in doing some activities together but it never worked out. Because as sweet as Koichi was for his brother while explaining the situation of their father, that gentleness turned around fast whenever Koichi got the impression that he was ignored. 

His outstretched hand with dog treats went unnoticed and Koichi redirected his approach to a more demanding one. "Here!" 

Daichi subsequently turned away from his twin. 

"It's okay Koichi; Daichi doesn't have to accept the treats. Just put them aside so your brother can take them if he wants to." 

"No! He's so rude!" the twin's agitation worsened by trying to shove the treats forcefully into Daichi's hands, who crossed his arms over each other to avoid his brother's aggressiveness. 

"It's not going to work," Kisuke warned from behind the mirror, while Isane assured him that Dr Yamanashi had experience in working with every type of child. 

As soon as the psychologist decided to interfere, Koichi threw the treats in his brother's face. She didn't instantly take a hold of Koichi like Kisuke would have done. Instead, Dr Yamanashi tried a less direct approach, but she still addressed the aggressive twin specifically about his deeds while modifying his behaviour. 

Not that Koichi saw the need to do it her way, nor any fault in his action. The kid replied with the same, "I don't care," when informed of his wrongdoing. 

"Why are you trying to force your brother into doing something he doesn't want to?" 

"Because." It was said in a demanding tone even though it wasn't yelled out this time. Kisuke also noticed that Koichi's intimidation reflected in his stance by the way he subtly made himself taller than the psychologist's bowed form, almost trying to look down on her. 

"Your brother doesn't have to join us if he doesn't want to." 

Koichi nodded defiantly. "He does." 

"And why does he have to?" 

"Because he needs to listen to me." 

Koichi received the same lecture from Yamanashi that Kisuke had given him: On how such behaviour is not tolerated and qualifying his attitude as something 'bad'. 

It didn't deter Koichi at all. 

She also didn't continue to hammer that principle into his head, promptly switching the kid's attention back to the dog instead and successfully diverting Koichi's focus away from his brother. 

The silent twin's curiosity piqued when the dog started doing her tricks. The little one not so subtly glanced at the canine while at the same time he kept his head turned away, feigning complete ignorance. 

Kisuke wasn't the only one aware of Daichi's growing interest; the psychologist tried to call him over again in a soft voice. 

"No!" But Daichi's favourite word didn't sound as resolute as it normally did. 

"Maybe you want Aoi to come over to you. Try calling her name," Dr Yamanashi advised. 

The dog came over to Daichi, tail wagging excitedly as soon as the psychologist guided Aoi in the direction of the kid since Daichi's barely noticeable mumble of the dog's name could not even be picked up by the animal's sensitive hearing. 

Koichi grabbed the dog's collar, violently tugging the dog away from his brother. 

In that instant, Yamanashi did take a hold of the surly twin, though it was unclear whether it was to correct Kisuke's son or make sure the animal wouldn't turn on the kid. Fortunately, Aoi remained a good sport through it all, tolerating Koichi's tugging. 

"Try letting her 'sit'," Yamanashi urged Daichi, holding out a treat for Aoi afterwards when Daichi actually followed the psychologist's suggestion. At the same time, she blocked Koichi's reach towards the dog with her other hand. 

Koichi's continued struggles to break free stopped, and for a second he raised his hand as if he wanted to hit the psychologist, only for the kid to hide his hands behind his back in an innocent fashion as soon as Yamanashi looked his way. "Can I try that too?" he asked sweetly, attitude turning around completely. 

Kisuke glanced at Isane next to him, who's expression told the blond that she was also aware of it. "Completely confidential?" Urahara questioned for full assurance. 

"None of our clients' sessions are shared outside of the 4th division." 

And it was exactly because Koichi presented himself in a far nicer way, that the kid was able to reach his goal, confirming Kisuke's fear of Koichi doing this well thought out and with a not so proper reasoning in mind. He acted out that kind role for just as long until Koichi showed his true intentions and that was: stopping his brother from playing with the dog. 

He first told his twin, "I was playing with the dog; you should wait your turn," in a tone that Kisuke had heard Koichi use when demanding Kazui to ask permission first. It was expressed calmly, yet at the same time held an underlining authoritative demand. 

Afterwards, Koichi ordered the dog to stop obeying Daichi's commands, not that the canine understood Koichi's speech... Aoi was simply mesmerised by getting the treats, which Koichi's twin brother had in hand by now. 

All the while Yamanashi tried to steer the surly twin's attitude around by explaining that siblings should play nicely together, but her corrections went further ignored by Koichi. The kid ordered the dog to disobey Daichi's commands once again and because the canine kept favouring Koichi's twin —treats galore after all— Koichi promptly hit the dog. 

It was anything but a corrective pat when it was reiatsu empowered and aimed at the animal's snout. 

The impulsive aggressiveness was something that needed to stop; therefore, she took Koichi a little further away from his brother and calmly talked to the kid to try and enforce some empathy out of him. It was repetitive, but only throughout repetition would Koichi be able to understand it eventually. 

"He probably displayed that behaviour in the rehabilitation centre and it was never corrected," thus involuntarily encouraging the twin to behave like that. 

Kisuke nodded to Yamanashi's statement. He and the psychologist sat together after the twins' session. 

"They are not by any means lost," she expressed softly when she noticed the look he gave her. "Keep structure in their lives, and even if Koichi displays such behaviour, keep on letting them interact with others. It's very crucial. I can see that Koichi understands that he's doing something wrong; he just never learned what fault it exactly was." 

The little private talk with his son and the psychologist had gone the way Kisuke had anticipated it would go. Koichi's act had switched on in accordance to how he was expected to behave. He had said that he was sorry and a sad face completed the picture. 

But… was Koichi truly sorry? 

Dr Yamanashi didn't believe that a child Koichi's age would deliberately change his attitude to hide cruel intentions and that the kid was unbeknownst in doing anything wrong. 

"Perhaps," he answered, although he felt like there was something more to Koichi's attitude. It just remained a dangerous subject, because what if there was something wrong with his son? What if the trauma had gone too far and the child would never understand the need to show empathy? 

At such a young age Koichi could keep on being corrected, but he'll eventually grow up, and what if his son's ability to show compassion never developed? 

He was probably being too impatient again. They were six; kids needed more time to come to terms with sudden changes, especially if those were behaviour related and in the twins' case ingrained in them. They were brought up in a facility that didn't bother with raising them properly. 

Kisuke needed to remind himself that he was dealing with children here and not rehabilitating psychopathic criminals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Play therapy is also definitely used above the age of six, but we're talking about Shinigami children here, a world where kids don't really get to be a kid.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter for Your wish is my command is still being beta'd so I thought I'll update this one instead.

Chapter 8

Rukia and Renji's bonding ceremony was held at the Takahashi clan. The clan leader was simultaneously head of the noble council. The consent for Renji and Rukia's bonding ceremony by Takahashi Sanjo was therefore seen as an honour. Especially because Rukia wasn't exactly born into the Kuchiki clan, and Abarai had been no more than a stray dog, that originated from the Rukongai, in the eyes of any noble. 

But after the war with Bach, the nobility strived to obtain a more approachable reputation instead of inaccessible prestigiousness, as stated by the noble council's leader directly. Or maybe, and this was Kisuke's opinion of the noble's good deed: in the act to cover up some immoral practices that were going on, on the side. Takahashi was just a little too friendly while interacting with Shinigami who held no superior title. 

As soon as Kisuke arrived with the twins, the noble's attendant came over to welcome him specifically, like the blond was a personally invited guest... 

He then turned towards the twins, who both introduced themselves in a manner that Kisuke was familiar with: Daichi stuck to his leg, hiding anxiously. -which seemed even more pronounced, then again, the estate was an unfamiliar territory and packed with lots of individuals to boot- While Koichi was his ever-present charming self around newcomers. 

"The garden is opened; surely you'll find some friends there." Takahashi's servant gestured at the gate to their left, where Kisuke could see Kazui calling Koichi over. 

His son looked at him for permission as Kisuke nodded, and before the kid left, Urahara told him a much-needed forewarning of, "Behave." When Koichi shrugged in affirmation and made motions of running off, Kisuke held him back, expecting a verbal reply in the hope that the warning would linger longer in the kid's head. 

"I will, daddy," came the angelic response before he bounded off. 

The servant was about to encourage Daichi in the same way but Kisuke was just in time to prevent the kid's shouted favourite word by telling the attendant, "He would rather stay with me." 

They were next lead into the estate in a room that held a long table, where lots of nobles were seated. The shoji doors were all slid open so it gave a nice view of the luxurious garden around the estate. 

He was about to go over to Yoruichi, -since besides his best friend, her partner, the bonded couple to be and Inoue, he wasn't really acquainted with anyone else- when Daichi tugged on his kimono's sleeve. The kid made little whines of protest and shook his head fervently when Kisuke tried to enter the room. 

"It's okay," he told his son soothingly. "I'll be there with you, no need to be afraid." 

But Daichi continued to resist, his distress increasing to the point of being no longer able to avert the attention from them any longer. And Kisuke was definitely not looking forward to their presence becoming the main centre of attention, certainly not in the company of the nobility. 

The little one's tugging on his sleeve turned violent, almost trying with all his might to get them back out of the room. In fact, Kisuke even had to take a hold of his son's wrist when the fabric of his kimono threatened to slip off of his shoulder. 

Daichi's reaction was to lean down low to the ground, as far as he could to get his wrist out of Urahara's hold. The little whines of protest were beginning to sound like clear sobs to signal the kid's distress. And Kisuke had to replace his grip a couple of times already since Daichi was seemingly unaware that his wrist was turning red. 

All attention was, of course, focused on them by then and the shopkeeper heard an accusing, "Aizen's kid." from one of the nobles as if that explained Daichi's behaviour. Agreeable murmurs followed naturally. 

He couldn't hear more of their judgemental theories, -not that he couldn't imagine the sort of words that passed between them- when Daichi's hysteric attempts took over to book better results; screaming and crying excessively without seemingly having any reason, besides fearing the crowd. 

Yoruichi and Renji were actually the first ones to come over and help Kisuke. Yoruichi steered them into the hallway before she tried to address Daichi. Bending down to the little one's level, she held out a hand and asked if the kid wanted to accompany her to Koichi instead, away from the crowded room. 

Kisuke was sure Daichi was going to scream the usual single negative word, but apparently, that's what Daichi needed at this exact moment. In between sniffles the kid nodded and took a hold of Yoruichi's sleeve to go in the direction of the garden. 

Kisuke looked apologetically at Renji, "I'm sor-" 

"Hey man, it's okay. If they picked me off of the streets back when I was a kid and dumped me in a rich place like this, I'd freak out too. It's all strange and unfamiliar." 

That was not the problem though, Daichi's outbursts happened for a reason, even though to some it might look as if the kid did it to exert his defiance. 

When Rukia and Inoue came over to check up on him as well, Kisuke tried the same apology with her, although the blond simply received something along the redhead's answer. 

"What was wrong actually?" Questioned Inoue, genuine worry laced her tone. 

"If only I knew. I just can't get through to him. Neither can Dr Yamanashi it seems." 

"I'm sure it's going to be alright; you just need to be patient." Renji and Rukia both assured at once. 

Patience...it had been two months since he rescued them out of Mayuri's claws and somehow, they were not even a step further. Every time it looked as if they were making progress, the next sessions with the psychologist would be like taking two steps back. 

Eventually, he had to go back inside of the room and face the nobles. 

He attempted to sneak past the four main branch nobles at the head of the table by walking next to Renji's taller frame. Unfortunately, he was stopped by Takahashi's voice. The noble council leader called him over and explicitly made some room at the head of the table. 

Kisuke awkwardly scratched a nervous hand through his blond hair before joining them. -without his trusted striped hat, he couldn't hide his expression strategically now. - He had at least a practical view of the garden and could avert his attention to the kids outside rather than be obliged to look any of the four nobles directly in the eyes. 

Grimmjow and Ichigo were apparently entertaining the various kids outside, smart of them to prefer joining the little ones instead of being forced to endure the stifling atmosphere inside. 

"Raising children can be quite a task; they don't always behave as they are ordered to," said the leader of the Noble's Council, superficially in Kisuke's defence. 

The oldest of the four nobles cleared his throat in disagreement. "A firm hand is the solution to that." He motioned to Daichi, who could be seen outside, still holding Yoruichi's sleeve, and being just a bystander of the other kids who roughhoused with Grimmjow and Ichigo. 

The comment evoked the other nobles to agree, except Kuchiki Byakuya. The Kuchiki leader looked as if he'd rather be somewhere else; he remained silent throughout the whole conversation and outwardly neither agreed nor disagreed. As was expected from the youngest. 

"I don't believe raising a hand to a child would accomplish anything but creating a bigger rift of distrust between the parent and child," Kisuke pointed out in a clearly resolute tone. 

No one was going to tell him how to raise his children, least of all the ones who were prejudiced against his children based on one parent. 

"You don't need to do any of that yourself; assign a family guardian. A common practice in our families, they'll gladly help with...unmanageable children. Isn't that right Kuchiki-san?" Byakuya's usual bland stare was his only answer. 

"Beaten into silence and into a subservient state is not what I want for my kids," Kisuke continued in a considerate manner. He stayed respectful, but the way the blond said it betrayed he wouldn't be susceptible to change his mind. 

He saw three of the four nobles share a glance. 

"Perhaps you should still consider it; psychopathic behaviour tends to be inheritable. The kid can't choose his genes, but being the descendant of Aizen Sousuke, we all have to be aware that correcting such antisocial behaviour is of utmost importance." 

That was exactly the kind of prejudice he was working so hard to avoid... 

"Aizen's erratic behaviour was likely the result of environmental changes or a problematic upbringing." Kisuke realised too late that his confrontation about the subject of Aizen's persona had been a definite incitement by the clan leader. And he probably would have done better if he had just kept quiet. Silent acceptance would have been easier to endure because this was simply a lost discussion. 

"As far as we all can remember, the Aizen family, up until the arrival of their son, of course, had always been the personification of righteous and morally conscious citizens." 

"You don't know what goes on behind closed doors." Look at Mayuri, his initiative to start up an orphanage after the war was a good example: from the outside, the centre had resembled an upstanding institute that gave lost children a second chance, but, from the inside to the kids, it must have felt like they entered Hell's gates. 

Mayuri's deeds weren't accepted as a worthy example to the nobles though... 

"A firm hand only shapes disobedient children into decent beings. Parental control is being reduced more and more these days...apparently, rebellious children are the norm now..." One of the nobles laughed mockingly. 

Astonished, Kisuke queried, "You can't possibly agree with what he did to all of those kids." 

"Where is the proof?" 

It was simply treated as a joke; the three nobles found it nothing more than an amusing topic. 

"I'm sure the countless pictures of their mangled bodies were proof enough!" Now Kisuke was plainly showing his disapproval, but it was impossible to remain impartial to that. "How do you explain that, huh?" 

"Result of the war, the Quinc-" 

"No," Kisuke interrupted. "you can't shove the blame onto someone else. My children were born after the war." 

The oldest of the four nobles smirked his way. "The only one that's accountable for your children's insanity is Aizen." 

"My children's insanity?!" repeated Kisuke in a dangerously low tone. Alright, now he was done being polite. He stood up and spoke up in a clear enough tone. "Mayuri's responsible for hurting my kids and I will assure you that anyone who shares the blame with him, will share in his punishment." He bowed in mock respect and went over to the other end of the table, where Yoruichi sat, near the bonded couple to be. 

Kisuke would have rather gone home instead, but he couldn't do that to Renji and Rukia. He was their guest; besides, he wasn't about to give off the vibe that he was intimidated by their condescending views. 

Yoruichi turned to face him with a questionable glance in her eyes as soon as Kisuke sat down next to her. The blond shook his head; he didn't want to discuss it any further. The feast was not about him, nor his children, and he didn't want to draw all the attention. The only thing the blond still asked was if Daichi was alright. 

Her affirmation was simultaneously coupled with a motion to the outside; Daichi was standing by his brother now - the little one wasn't an active participant of the games the other children played, but he was at least surrounded by his own age group. 

"So," Kisuke averted the focus from him by addressing Renji in a jovial way. "Are you ready to bond to Kuchiki-san? Because you still have exactly two hours to run away from that lifelong commitment." 

It was their day, time to involve himself in their shared joy. 

The tea ceremony, disguised as Renji's acceptance into the Kuchiki-clan, went without any other difficulty…up until the point where all of them were ready to move on to the actual bonding ceremony. 

Takahashi stood up from the table, ready to announce the start of the celebration as tradition would have it, but his speech was halted when the noble was impaled by an arrow. That the culprit was a random rebel was probably everyone's first thought, that is right before Kisuke heard someone mention that it had been a kid, and the blond's thoughts immediately connected the dots: the kidou spell that generated such an arrow was also a repeatedly used spell of his son. 

He had to rush in between the guards that seemingly popped up out of nowhere and was just in time to shield his two sons from a blast that rendered one's reiatsu unusable for an extended period of time- mostly used for suspected criminals. 

Daichi stood behind his brother while Koichi already had the next arrow at the ready. 

So much for defending his kids...they were openly showing the traits that the nobility accused them of. 

Luckily, he could once again count on his best friend for some support in order to convince the guards to leave Urahara's children alone. Kisuke still had to manually disarm Koichi, because his son was steadfastly targeting the noble again. 

The bonding ceremony was officially suspended in light of Takahashi's 'severe' wound. Completely bollocks, Koichi's aim and strength behind Kidou spells, as Kisuke experienced, was not deadly in any sense. The intent though, behind the kid's reason, Kisuke agreed was a point of concern. But definitely not to the extent that his son needed to be treated as a dangerous individual. 

Regardless of Kisuke's attempts in defending his offspring, the two were to be interrogated. The wounded noble had even requested a full check up on the children's mental health. 

"They are six years old! Stop acting as if they're the next Yhwach Bach." 

"They're probably not up to his level yet, but Aizen Sousuke's genes run through their skewed minds." 

They were currently seated in the 2nd division at the interrogation table; Kisuke sat on one side with his two sons while the two members of the Patrol Corps were seated on the opposite side. At least he could prevent them from separating the twins to question them one on one. 

Yoruichi naturally aided in making sure Kisuke had permission to be present with them. Minors did have the right to be accompanied by an adult. -at least those under the age of seven. - 

No-one else, unfortunately, was allowed to be present during the questioning, not even Yoruichi herself. She was after all seen as too subjective in this matter. 

Koichi and Daichi were to be questioned in a manner that was reserved for dangerous individuals; the interrogators didn't even bother to change their questions into a more kid friendly vocabulary. No, it consisted of questions such as: what were their motives or their general intent behind the traitorous act? And of course, questions pertaining to the twins' psychological mindset once the info on their schedule with Dr Yamanashi was known. 

"They're following sessions with a psychologist?" 

"Yes," stated Kisuke plainly, "as do all the children that inhabited Mayuri's orphanage, not that it's any of your business." 

"With one Dr Yamanashi?" 

Kisuke nodded. 

It's not something that should be specifically nefarious or a confirmation on the kids' skewed mental state; the reason for their appointments with the psychologist was after all in the first instance to help his children deal with any trauma. Which at least indirectly verified Daichi and Koichi's willingness to seek that help. 

In other words, it should play in their favour. 

Kisuke hoped that he could still count on Isane's assurance in the therapy's confidentiality once the Onmitsukidou started meddling into their sessions. Or demanded to see the notes on their appointments, because they would undoubtedly try to get a hold of that. 

"Did someone set you up to the attack?" 

One of the interrogators asked Koichi as the kid let out a deep sigh and answered blandly, "You already ask that..." his son leant his head against Kisuke's shoulder, blatantly showing off his boredom. While Daichi sat rigidly still in front of the strangely masked men. 

"Then answer the question: why did you attack Takahashi-sama?" 

Finally, they worded the question in a manner the kids should be able to understand... But, they were otherwise unaware of Koichi's rapidly deteriorating short attention span. 

"Koichi," Kisuke asked and specifically waited until his son looked at him to state, "why did you use the kidou on Takahashi?" 

"When will we go home?" 

"After you answer." 

The kid sighed again, put his elbows defiantly on the table to rest his chin on them, and whined, "It's so obvious." 

Kisuke, along with the two interrogators, waited until the kid decided to elaborate, "Because! He hurt Daichi. And that's why I needed to hurt him!" 

The two members of the Patrol Corps both looked a little clueless on what to do with that declaration, while Kisuke glanced at Daichi. The silent twin was still just that, eyes focused on a single point in the middle of the table. 

Urahara stood up, ignored the demand to take a seat again, and squatted down next to Daichi's chair. "Did that man hurt you?" 

Daichi's eyes connected with Kisuke's grey ones briefly before they focused back into nothingness. 

"What did he do to you?" he questioned his son softly, somewhere afraid for the answer, even though Daichi's lips stayed sealed. It was the validation that Urahara had been looking for, evidence that the nobility was involved in Mayuri's practices. 

"The kid is lying." 

"I'm not!" yelled Koichi furiously, straightening his posture as if he could physically prove his statement to the members of the Onmitsukidou. 

"What did Daichi tell you?" Kisuke pressured lightly; he would rather hear it from Daichi himself, but Kisuke knew they'd be sitting here for days because Daichi refused to say anything. 

"I just said!" but Koichi's cooperation was dwindling fast as well. 

This was far too much to handle at that age. "That's enough," he said, standing up. "He has stated his reason." 

"That is not a valid reason." 

"Regardless, you're going to write that down as well." 

"You can expect a complaint from Takahashi-sama against your son." 

Kisuke narrowed his eyes. "If I was Takahashi, I would concern myself with my kid's statement, because reform it however you want, but I will find out what he did. We'll see whose complaint will be of utmost importance then." 

The blond didn't think his threat would be taken seriously. 

A couple of weeks later, and still he was unaware of any charges pressed against Koichi. Neither was Koichi's statement taken into consideration; they lacked enough proof or details at that. 

During those weeks though, Dr Yamanashi's sessions were solely focused on deciphering Koichi's statement. But they still didn't get any further than the fact that Takahashi hurt Daichi. 

Play therapy was fully integrated into their sessions, and the point of the various dolls was to enact a scenario that the kids had experienced in the centre. -the dolls were dressed as the medical staff at the institute and the smaller dolls depicted the orphans. - 

But Daichi refused to play, and simply stood still as a statue every time the session began. Not even with the help of Aoi, could Yamanashi capture his son's interest. It's like they went back to square one, it was frustrating, to say the least. 

Koichi, on the other hand, did make use of the toys in the room. They didn't have to wait long for the kid to reenact a scenario from the orphanage, not that it was particularly useful though... 

It was the same story over and over again: a doll was named Aki, and Koichi picked another doll as himself and fruitlessly played through the day's schedule: sleep, class, lunch, class, sometimes dinner before the dolls went back to bed. 

Then one session, he threw the Aki doll carelessly behind him, grabbed another doll and named it Arata, before stomping the Arata doll into pieces. All the while mumbling how Arata took Aki's seat. 

The therapy sessions hadn't been informative at all, not that they were entirely useless either since the appointments remained a good basis for structure in their lives. 

Kisuke had better luck at home. 

The shopkeeper had just ascended the ladder again when he heard Daichi humming quietly to himself. It was an odd tune that sounded creepy, a sound that was not at all used when one resided in a happy mood. 

He quietly went to investigate the noise and peeked around the corner. 

Daichi stood up on one of the bigger shelves on the wall and was binding the cord of the plush pony around one of the beams above the build in closet. 

Kisuke furrowed his brows as the kid climbed back down and began petting the hung pony while humming that weird tune, as comfort perhaps? Though the manner in which it was hummed was plainly uncomfortable and the kid's behaviour was extremely odd, so he approached his son. 

Daichi stopped humming in an instant, telling Kisuke, "Doggy's hurtin'" 

"He's hurt?" Kisuke corrected as the kid nodded. 

"Yes." 

Then Kisuke saw that the limp hanging neck of the plushy was even more mangled, the threading even loosened to show its stuffing. 

"Oh, and you were singing to make him feel better?" Kisuke guessed. 

His son worried his lip between his teeth, busy contemplating. "Ye-...no!" 

Kisuke saw the kid's expressions fluctuating from confused to genuine sadness. 

"He's hurtin'!" The lower lip that was worried between Daichi's teeth was beginning to tremble. 

Urahara decided to derive from the questioning manner to play along instead, "Quick! Get the first aid kit and we'll help him!" 

His son quickly ran into the playroom to get the 'kid's first doctor set' -something that Rukia or Inoue had bought... 

Before Daichi's return, the shopkeeper unleashed the pony, procured thread and needle from one of the built-in closets and proceeded to mend the plushie's neck again. 

When the little one returned, the only evidence of the plushie's indentation was a small thread and he told the kid to use the 'medical' instruments to finish it off with a band aid on the pony's seam. "Well, Dr Daichi, he's all better now," Kisuke said enthusiastically to the little one who looked at him confusedly. The shopkeeper grabbed the pony manually and moved the stuffed toy to show that Daichi's 'doggy' was all better now. 

The kid radiated with happiness suddenly, -so much better than the scary mood- and hugged his 'doggy' close before running off with the toy. 

The spectacle had scared him quite a bit at first. But, Daichi didn't deliberately tie the leash that high up with the intention that the doggy hung itself, right? Nonetheless, Kisuke could handle the situation in the right way by driving the kid away from those scary thoughts and into helping the plushie without judging the act at the exact moment Daichi did it. 

Because otherwise, it would have created a reverse effect and Daichi would get cautious of expressing himself again, even in the house. 

And that's when Urahara became aware that the kid showed bits and pieces from his upbringing, so long as Daichi had the feeling that he was all alone; unmonitored. -probably also the reason why play therapy with the psychologist failed each time: the kid consciously knew that he was being monitored and acted according to how it was obliged by Mayuri's rules: rigidly standing still without speaking a word. Something Daichi, fortunately, didn't do at home anymore. 

And so Kisuke changed his tactic with Daichi, every time the kid was playing by himself, Kisuke would carefully approach the little one while masking his reiatsu. 

It did not deliver results directly though... 

Koichi foiled his sneaky plans sometimes since the rowdy twin lived up to his trait by yelling, 'Daddy!' loudly, and thus revealing Kisuke's hiding spot. Or Daichi himself foiled the plan by rounding the corner unexpectedly to be confronted by Urahara hiding behind the wall. More than once he had to come up with the excuse that he was checking for ants in the slats of the wall. 'Pesky creatures that found their way into the house.' 

The next day, both of his sons were checking the entire house for the ants... 

The only time he caught Daichi head on was when Kisuke stopped trying to find out anything. 

He had allowed the kids to eat in front of the TV for a change, it was takeout in a small carton box so no worries about them making any messes. 

The blond was doing the dishes in the kitchen when he heard the timid twin become a little louder than Kisuke was used to. He had first thought that the twins were conversing, but Koichi's gaze was focused on the television. 

"You be a good doggy! And then maybe you eat!" Daichi warned his plushie in a very peculiar stance, play medical tools in one hand which he waved them in a threatening manner before the kid stomped behind the couch loudly. 

The little one reappeared from behind the couch, without the tools and walked normally back to the plushie, took his doggy by the middle, -much like how Kisuke did to show that the plushie was alright- and squatted down in front of the couch. 

He held the doggy in that position so it remained standing upright for quite a while. Eventually, Urahara was about to go back to the dishes when Daichi began humming that tune again, constantly. So much that it annoyed his brother. "Stop that, Daichi!" 

Koichi's twin responded with a, "But, doggy's tummy is hurtin'," and promptly resumed humming. 

Koichi retaliated by turning up the volume of the TV, which made it difficult for Kisuke to understand Daichi because the kid had disappeared back behind the couch to get the medical play tools again before stomping back towards his plushie. "You a bad doggy!" Daichi singsonged and grabbed his plushie, then began literally cutting into the stuffed animal with his tools. 

Kisuke decided to interfere when the seam broke again. "Hey, hey!" He even had to calm down the kid's violent attempts when he wouldn't stop when Urahara asked Daichi to quit it. 

When he finally had the kid's attention, Urahara asked, "What did the doggy do?" Playing along would maybe earn Kisuke the response he had been hoping for. 

"He been bad," Daichi mumbled lowly. 

"Why?" 

"He been bad!" the kid yelled in a frustrated way, eyes tearing up. And even though it breached the kid's normal decibels, it hardly sounded that loud when Koichi decided to turn up the volume of the TV to its maximum capacity. "Koichi, turn that down," Kisuke ordered. 

"But. I. Can't. Hear. Anything!" the little one talked back, after turning the volume down. 

At least his temper tantrum wasn't acting up... 

Kisuke looked back at Daichi, who looked down at the ground, sniffling quietly. "The doggy wasn't being bad," Kisuke attested carefully. "I think he was just hungry?" he questioned the little one intentionally who nodded slowly, gaze still on the ground. "And you know what?" Urahara continued to the sniffling twin, "I think you're hungry too." 

Because Daichi's takeout box lay on the table, practically untouched. 

"But, there's meat." 

"There's no meat in here," Kisuke answered after picking through the food with Daichi's fork. 

"But, Koichi-" 

"Koichi's box has meat, not yours." 

"It's not a Soul!" interrupted Koichi defiantly. But the little one's meddling was this time easily diverted to the television again when Kisuke distracted Koichi back to the program he was currently watching. It was certainly amongst the easiest discussions he had won with the defiant twin... 

Kisuke explicitly showed the lack of meat in Daichi's box to the kid, but the little one remained wary of the meatless food. 

Urahara fed the kid a bite instead to see if it would have any positive effect. And that was apparently what it took to urge the little one in accepting the takeout food. He even ended up feeding both twins in that manner when Koichi suddenly had to receive the same treatment. "You're both actually old enough to feed yourself," he told them knowingly. 

-0- 

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere his request for Aizen to meet his children was granted. In order to secretly file Koichi's complaint against Takahashi or not, it was obvious that the permission was the result of outward sources rather than Central 46 suddenly changing their mind to Kisuke's advantage -whose kids just attacked one of their great leaders... 

Nevertheless, Kisuke was not going to think twice about making use of that offer. Though, he still would have rather talked to Aizen privately in advance. He wasn't necessarily afraid that Aizen would hurt their children, but a quick reminder would have surely been helpful to the brunet. Not to mention that Kisuke would like to inform Aizen on the necessity of cooperating. Their meeting would be monitored after all. 

The blond had even seen Takahashi entering the first division, along with the psychologist who evaluated Aizen -enough confirmation that something was going on here. The noble wasn't present in the same room where the meetup would take place, he was -most likely- safely hiding behind the one-way mirror in the next room. 

And aside from the one-way mirror, the meeting room was directly connected to a prison cell. Aizen was to be brought into the cell so the brunet was still physically separated from them through the bars since no actual contact was permitted. 

Kisuke was going to accompany their kids in the room -which he was only granted after a severe discussion, a lock down of Urahara's pressure and temporary confiscation of Benihime. - The meetup itself was allowed for a duration of approximately fifteen minutes. 

Kisuke hoped that Aizen would be freed of Muken's shackles because a completely bound Aizen is the last sort of first impression that the blond wanted for their kids. 

And with reason; Daichi was extremely nervous even if Kisuke had assured the little one that 'Dr' Mayuri would not show up. He would have done better on rephrasing the story on where Aizen was kept since the underground prison was already a scary place as it was. 

Luckily, he had informed them about their other parent, or Kisuke would have had to do that quickly; the kids wouldn't have gotten the chance to even process the news and the meetup would have turned into an utter failure. 

When Aizen finally arrived, -unfortunately still completely bound, but no longer muted- the kids were naturally a little spooked. It had taken Kisuke quite a while before the twins warmed up to him as well. And it didn't help that the two guards remained inside of the cell with Aizen. It took away their privacy that an intimate moment such as this should normally provide... 

On first glance, Aizen didn't seem as nervous as Kisuke himself was when first meeting their offspring. The brunet even stated a bold and a very inappropriate -given their monitored meet-up- "Well, look at you two; you're all grown up. Spares me the trouble of raising you." 

Kisuke wanted to chide the other for that remark; that foolish comment could cost Aizen the right to see his children again. But, he decided not to draw any more attention to it, instead chuckling an awkward, "Oh, that father of yours..." at the same time he gave the brunet a blatant look. Since Kisuke wasn't the only one who failed to see any humour in Aizen's speech; the kids were just fine in staying as far away as possible from the bars that separated them from their carrier...though it could also still just be the black binding that covered Aizen entirely... 

Aizen, therefore, approached the bars, making a come-hither motion to the twins. Daichi and Koichi didn't exactly react positively to that either when the motion resembled more of a sign that was used to call your pet... 'At least get down to their level,' thought Kisuke. 

The other remained confident throughout the whole ordeal, even though Aizen only managed to look even more awkward than Kisuke's first interaction with them. 

When the brunet decided to stick his hand through the bars, he was instantly reprimanded by the guards. They weren't allowed any physical contact at all. The brunet gave the guards a very contemptuous glance before finally coming across a little more approachable by sitting down, seiza style, in front of the bars. 

By then, Kisuke decided to aid the brunet so he squatted down in front of Sousuke before calling both of their sons towards him. Which was enough incentive for Koichi to slowly come near Sousuke. Aizen kept trying to convince Daichi while Koichi had the time to scrutinise the brunet from up close. 

Koichi seemed to get used to the black bands soon enough, before tapping Kisuke's shoulder to find out one pressing issue, "Daddy, where is the stone?" 

Oh yeah...the Hogyoku is, of course, an adventurous detail that lingers in a kid's mind. 

'The Hogyoku,' Kisuke mouthed in response to Aizen's raised eyebrow. 

The brunet smirked suddenly, "That interest starts early." 

"It is merely the thought that you've implanted an object into your body; they watch cartoons with cyborgs-" Urahara trailed off as Aizen was busy opening the black garb that resembled a straight jacket. The brunet only got as far as opening one button before the two guards reminded the other of the do's and don'ts. 

The Hogyoku was visible enough from Koichi's point of view and he mumbled an awed, "Wow." Must seem fascinating for a six-year-old... 

Even more so when Kisuke was made aware of the fact that Daichi had shuffled closer as well. The little one also seemed interested in the orb; in fact, Daichi seemed almost mesmerised... 

Kisuke quickly glanced over to Aizen and realised too late that the brunet was spurring on the kid through the Hogyoku. The entire time ... The orb pulsed sound waves and its pressure was beginning to warn bystanders of its sudden functioning magnetism. "Aizen?!" Kisuke notified the other in a curt tone. 

Urahara's pressure was locked, curse the guards' safety procedures because he couldn't keep the orb nor Aizen under his control if the situation threatened to fall out of hand. 

Kisuke was about to steer the little ones away before Daichi could reach Sousuke closely enough to touch the orb. But the Hogyoku needn't even be touched to evoke a swirling pressure together with Daichi's reiatsu that the Hogyoku seemingly absorbed and kept Kisuke physically apart from reaching his sons. 

The shopkeeper told Koichi to stand back, just in case, while commanding the ones behind the mirror to release Kisuke's reiatsu. 

Only he could keep Aizen under control. 

The guards in the meantime tried to manually reach Aizen as well, but just like Kisuke, they were kept at a distance. Not even kidou spells managed to reach the brunet. 

Kisuke widened his eyes as Aizen's seals became visible and simply snapped by the two pressures combined. "Aizen!" 'What did he think he was doing?!' 

The seals that kept Aizen's pressure locked were gone by now, but the orb didn't stop. At that moment though Kisuke was finally able to get to Daichi. He picked up the kid -who struggled to reach Aizen again- and grabbed a hold of Koichi's wrist to steer them to the exit, lest the children were hit by kidou spells that were randomly flying around the room to reach Aizen. 

The raw power of Aizen was starting to feel like an arm twisting force that wasn't about to let up, not necessarily with the intention of hurting Kisuke or their children, but when the guards disintegrated into tiny pieces due to the oppression, it was more than time to get out of the room. But the security door remained tightly locked shut, and even his knocking on the window or his shouting to let them out weren't heard. 

And there was no other way out... 

The brunet stood up suddenly, eyes opening to reveal a dark purple that had taken over the previous chestnut colour, and all he did was smirk their way. Aizen raised his hands as if he was a deity about to give salvation to someone, before the Hogyoku's transformation kicked in entirely. 

A good thing Kisuke hadn't made an appeal yet in favour of Aizen because the brunet fragrantly swooped aside all his reasoning in one single meet-up. 

The transcendence into a 'higher being' stopped after the cocoon like stage. A white robe, that showed off the Hogyoku like a cross on a priest, instantly replaced the black clothing. The now long-haired brunet afterwards mouthed, 'Thank you.' back to Kisuke, his purple eyes glinting wickedly and in the blink of an eye, he disappeared. 

And the ones who had to naturally pay the price for that were Kisuke and their kids... 

"You intentionally wanted to meet-up, because you realised what his plans were." 

Transferred back into the 2nd division's interrogation room, the two Onmitsukidou guards that previously interrogated them were present for the questioning following Aizen's escape as well. 

Kisuke hadn't known; it hadn't even crossed his mind... to think that the only intent behind Aizen's wish of wanting a child was to break Kisuke's seals was just too far fetched. Aizen couldn't have done that with the sole purpose of releasing his bonds; the Hogyoku shouldn't grant such a simple desire, and yet, Aizen proved the unthinkable again... 

"He not only used the orb for his own gain, but he also used his own children," told Dr Higashi, the psychologist who sat on the side of the interrogators. "I'm sure that's proof enough of Aizen's instability." He worded it in a superior way as if the concept of proving Kisuke wrong gave him a personal high. "If your children weren't involved that is..." 

Kisuke snorted - the mere notion was simply too ridiculous to grant the other an answer. 

Of course, Daichi was susceptible to the Hogyoku's calls... Mayuri's reports on the twins mentioned how the kid had absorbed fragments of the orb into his system naturally. At the time, Kisuke hadn't lingered too long on that thought, but thinking back now though, the possibility should have spawned as a first wary defect in his mind. 

But, that's just the thing: Kisuke was far too preoccupied with finding out what Mayuri did. Aizen had come across hopeless when they met up again after the war as if he had accepted his imprisoned fate. All the while, the brunet had been merely scheming; setting Kisuke up, again. 

Aizen never changed, how pure of heart the other even pretended to be, there was always a darker truth looming behind the brunet's perfect words. And Aizen had had too much time to think about possibilities that could set him free. The pieces of the Hogyoku inside of Daichi made the kid the second master of the orb, capable of controlling the Hogyoku, next to Kisuke that is. 

But the child was still naive and his will could easily be taken advantage of, as demonstrated by Aizen. With practice and control of Daichi's pressure, that flow could be turned around. 

After another unsuccessful interrogation, he was unable to walk away from the questioning with the same luck he had previously. While leaving the building, Takahashi suddenly showed up and Daichi immediately hid behind Kisuke's legs while Urahara had to refrain Koichi from generating a kidou. 

"Be prepared to defend your psychopathic children in front of Central 46," came the threat while the noble sneered at Koichi. 

Just perfect - in one moment all of Kisuke's meticulous ideas to look for justice in the kids' favour, blew up in his face. 

At least his children weren't too shaken up by the recent incident. In fact, they actually seemed surprisingly cheerful. They even raced each other up the ladder once back home...the reason for that happiness made itself known in the form of a certain brunet, who had been casually awaiting their appearance in the living room. 

"Well, hello my little monsters," he greeted their kids while Urahara stood perplexed in the doorframe, unsure of what his next action should be.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Kisuke pointedly watched how the kids suddenly had no trouble in approaching Aizen, which could be the result of Aizen's freed reiatsu -that the brunet had currently masked- or the twins recognised the orb's familiar power -what with having spent nine months in the constant presence of the Hogyoku. 

Daichi hugged Aizen freely around the legs, previous inhibitions suddenly nowhere to be found when it came to personal space, while Koichi chatted up a storm, eager to inform their other parent of everything. 

The brunet gracefully patted Daichi's head and still managed to come across uncertain of how to act around the twins. "Alright," he stopped Koichi's chatter, aware that Kisuke didn't look so happy to see him. "Why don't you leave daddy and me alone for a second? You can tell me all about that afterwards." 

The dark blond heads subsequently turned to face Urahara, who nodded in confirmation. 

The two ran off to the playroom, both extremely delighted with the new arrival since their voices resounded through the hallway. 

"I mean no harm," said Sousuke, as soon as Kisuke had taken a couple of steps in his direction, reiatsu already starting to simmer in preparation of oppressing the orb. "Is this not what you wanted? Or does your offer in helping me suddenly not apply anymore?" The brunet attempted to placate him with a calm subservient tone. "That night, or rather the hours after our joining," Aizen stated bemusedly, "you did offer to find a better alternative to Muken. You were prepared to offer yourself up as my supervisor, or does that not apply any more after post-coital bliss?" 

Kisuke kept his expression blank with a hard stare fixed on the other. 

"There was no other way to convince Central 46..." Aizen attempted to reach out to him while Kisuke simply evaded the touch. 

"Yes, there was. Without the-" 

"Ah, ah-" the other crooned. "You know that that is not an option; the Hogyoku is my only hope-" 

"Of course," answered Kisuke. "Your only hope...in breaking free from my cuffs." 

Sousuke disagreed with a shake of his head. 

"Could carry on when I failed to..." Kisuke continued parroting the brunet's previous assurances. "Don't make me laugh, that I was foolish enough to believe a single word..." 

"You are taking it the wrong way." 

"Am I?" Kisuke laughed mockingly. 

"The Seireitei would never willingly grant me my freedom back, not even without the orb." Aizen's purple eyes softened its cocky expression. "I came to you in order to take care of our children together; that should be enough proof. There is no need for you to question me any further." 

The brunet stayed extremely calm and that's what bothered Kisuke, the fact that he saw no fault in his actions. "You manipulated our son in the five seconds you came in contact with him. What makes you think I'm going to allow you to stay here?" 

The former lord casually began to inspect the house, without minding the rest of Kisuke's speech, so the blond closed one of the doors Aizen opened at the same time, diverting Aizen's attention back to him and forcing the brunet to turn back around and face him. 

"Because you are simply not going to hand me over to the Seireitei." 

"Is that so?" he questioned, more than annoyed at Aizen's flagrant disrespect. Kisuke put his hands on either side of Aizen's head against the wall, successfully trapping the other between himself and the door. -and preventing him from escaping the questioning. 

"Because I gave our children life, and you have more decency than locking up the carrier of your children." 

Aizen wasn't here for more than 15 minutes and he already thought to be running the place... 

"I actually managed to raise them alone quite well. I'm not in any specific need for another pair of hands." 

"Selfish," concluded Aizen while stroking Kisuke's cheek, which he slapped away in an annoyed manner because it felt far more patronising than anything else. "Since you seem to forget that parenting is done by the two beings that were involved in the process of making them. Our children just met me, therefore, is it wise to deny them further any contact with me?" 

Kisuke's smile that appeared was more caused by frustration, because what would he tell his children indeed when Aizen suddenly disappeared? He could easily make something up, but if the twins later chose to look up their father -who would naturally blame Kisuke- the blond would come out of it as the liar instead. 

And could he really deny their kids the right to see their other parent? Daichi seemed so happy... 

"Whenever you appear, the only thing you bring along is trouble." The other raised a brow in mock disbelief. "I do not think our children are trouble..." 

The smile on Kisuke's features suddenly turned genuine. "No, you're right." Now that he thought about it, Aizen taking care of children? The brunet wouldn't even last a week! "And it's true, we should share in the responsibility of raising them." Aizen couldn't even take care of himself... the former lord would be fleeing the responsibility faster than he could snatch the Hogyoku from Kisuke. 

Kisuke pulled back both of his hands that had previously trapped Aizen to the door and motioned the other to continue his exploration. 

The brunet glanced at him warily, aware that Kisuke hadn't consented so easily without a proper reason at its foundation before he opened a door curiously to investigate the room. 

"Oh, just one thing you're going to have to abide by: if you dare to manipulate or use your powers on our children one more time..." 

The other popped his head back into the hallway. "Yes?" 

"You'll see what happens then." 

A warning was definitely needed with Aizen, that much he learned. But the former lord as a fully transformed being or not, he had shackled Aizen once, and out of experience could learn other methods that would work in locking up that power. 

The blond returned the other's intimidating stare before both of them decided to move on: Aizen went on with his inspection of the house while Kisuke took some extra security measures regarding the portal that connected to Soul Society. 

-0- 

After doing a little tour around the house -minus the room that held a lot of noise, which was undoubtedly his twins' room- Sousuke went back in search of his host and found the other seated at the kitchen table. 

"Which room is mine?" 

The blond briefly glanced up from a couple of papers he was browsing through. "It doesn't matter; any of the remaining ones obviously: which would be Ururu's previous one, although it is decorated in a rather feminine way, or the guest room that's still empty." 

"Aren't parents normally supposed to be sleeping in the same bed?" 

Not that he was forcing Kisuke in that direction, but it would provide a healthier image to the kids if they pretended to love each other. 

"Actually, a recent study shows that in this part of the human world, most parents tend to sleep apart as long as they have young children. Not in every household of course, but if they do, the mother shares a room with her kids." 

Might be, but they were not humans, so Sousuke was not going to oblige to that custom. 

"Tragic." 

Kisuke looked up again, inquiring why he thought that to be the case. 

"If there is no... intimacy, why would you bond with that person if your intention is to live next to each other instead of living together as a couple?" 

"A relationship is not based on sex." 

Funny that Urahara had that mindset while the blond was the type to centre his priorities on certain physical needs. 

The disbelieving look he returned to Urahara had the blond rephrasing his statement, "Well, not solely based on sex." 

"I disagree." The blond gave him a curious glance. "I'm not saying that if you won't give me attention in that department, I would stray, but-" 

He ignored Kisuke's, "There is no us." because that was pure denial. The brunet had felt Urahara's fervent passion for him, and that was no simple stress relief. 

"I do need to be shown the evidence of your..." with Kisuke's intensive stare firmly directed on him, it was clear that the blond was waiting for an opportunity to disregard the usage of the four-letter word. Not that Sousuke would go as far as to call it love, but there was something that attracted him to Kisuke. 

Might even be caused by the Hogyoku... whatever it was, it was undeniably reciprocated by the blond. 

"...passion." 

"That's too bad, Aizen, because this," the blond motioned between the two of them. "is purely a coexistence for the sake of taking up the roles as a dad and a father respectively." 

A pity...but, Kisuke keeping it purely platonic? That is precisely why Urahara was so funny; Sousuke knew the other better than the blond knew himself. 

"So, you want to pretend?" 

"No, I hate the word pretend. There is nothing worse in raising one's children than keeping up an image." 

Sousuke chuckled, 'Kisuke could be hilarious...' "Sounds precisely like what you're describing as our coexistence though." 

"No, because we're not going to act as if we're in love; we're just going to live up to our role as parents." 

"Daddy, daddy!" The little whirlwind that was their son, Koichi, came bounding into the room, distracting them from the topic. "Can I get a cookie?" 

"Not right now; you're going to eat dinner first." 

Sousuke smiled unconsciously at the display; kids were such a source of liveliness and hope for the future... 

Koichi saw his smile and beamed brightly back, put his hands behind his back and tried the same with Aizen. "Father, can I have a cookie?" 

Smart child, he saw the potential of having two parents immediately. 

Kisuke was just about to interfere, but Sousuke's tone was just a tad bit deeper than the blond's and easily drowned out Kisuke's voice. "What did your dad just tell you?" 

The kid swayed from left to right, as if it would aid in his remembering Kisuke's answer. Or it could be because the little one was trying to come across as innocent as possible since that grin spelt anything but a guilt-free expression. 

"No?" 

"Then you know my answer as well." 

Koichi bowed his head to the ground for a second before looking back up at Sousuke in an instant as if the kid suddenly had the greatest idea. He stepped a little closer to Sousuke and made a hand gesture for the brunet to come near his level. 

Certain that Koichi was going to change tactic and whisper the same question in his ear -as if it would make a difference...- Sousuke bent down a little, only to be surprised when the kid brushed aside his long hair to smoosh his face almost in Sousuke's chest and whisper, 

"Can I get a cookie?" 

Sousuke looked at Kisuke oddly when the blond laughed. 

"No, Koichi, the Hogyoku is not going to grant you that." 

That was a silly request indeed, but he supposed that it was normal at that age to fail in comprehending the true purpose of the orb. 

The kid pouted visibly. "But! You said that-" 

"The Hogyoku won't grant children's wishes when they won't listen to their parents." 

Koichi looked warily from Kisuke, who was obviously misleading the kid, to Sousuke, who gave a firm nod. 

"Your dad is right." 

The kid slumped over completely and ran back out of the kitchen. 

"Oh, you pure-hearted soul you," 

Kisuke pointed a finger at him, "Don't." 

But Sousuke couldn't leave it at that. "You just lied to our son." 

"You're the last person to lecture me on lying." 

"Exactly," smiled Sousuke, "I'm giving you advice." 

Kisuke promptly reverted to browsing through his papers. "Where are you going to sleep?" 

For someone who superficially didn't care where Sousuke would be sleeping, the blond sounded pretty interested in finding out. 

"The cluttered room with the double futon." He sat down next to Kisuke, whose head suddenly snapped to his. 

"No, that room was not an option; that's where I sleep." 

"I know. Guess you're going to have to share." 

"Guess again; I'm not sharing." 

Sousuke grinned and raised a brow while the blond's grey eyes glowered his way. 

"I'm not laughing, Aizen." 

"Please, call me Sousuke. We're going to get intimately involved from now on aft-" 

"You'll be taking the guest room, Aizen-san." 

And we're back to formal speech... not exactly logical. 

"Well, I guess you're going to have to force me out of your bed, later on, Kis... do you mind if I call you Kisuke?" 

"Yes." 

Aizen just smiled widely in response. He didn't react because he wasn't about to continue the childish game of contradiction. He was certain enough that he was going to get what he wanted in the end anyway. 

When he questioned Kisuke about the papers the blond was going through, the other pushed the papers over to his side. 

"Something you're going to sign." 

Sousuke pursed his lips. "A spiritual contract?" 

"Right. With you manipulating our son, you give me no other choice." 

He read through the documents fleetingly. "No, I'm not signing that. You can suppress my reiatsu already through the Hogyoku. I reckon that is enough control that you hold over me." 

A spiritual contract was permanent until one of the parties involved no longer existed, and thus certainly not something Sousuke was even remotely going to consider. 

"Not nearly enough when you're able to manipulate Daichi." 

"I'm not going to do that anymore; I just needed to take matters into my own hands, since if I had to wait on you to make good on your promise, I might as well sit out my sentence in Muken." 

And he did not exactly hurt Daichi. In fact, Sousuke did the kids a favour by giving them their other parent back. If anything, Kisuke should be thanking him. 

The brunet slid the papers back over to Kisuke, who didn't seem very happy about his decision. 

"Besides, I know a sweeter way in which you can suppress my pressure." He leaned over to Kisuke's side to whisper, "By fucking me into your double futon." 

While his proposition didn't directly earn him a positive acknowledgement, Kisuke's lack of answer was clearly an indicator that the blond was at least considering it. 

It was the perfect time to persuade Kisuke some more with other words, but unfortunately, he couldn't carry on with that intent when Sousuke was reminded of the fact that kids were little cockblockers because right at that moment, their other son entered the kitchen in tow of a... plush toy? 

Daichi smiled just as brightly as his twin and reeled in the plushie to present it to Sousuke with outstretched hands. "Doggy!" 

Sousuke took a hold of the toy and inspected it briefly before glancing at Kisuke to confirm that their son had indeed given him a mangled stuffed horse, that was clearly not a dog, but that Daichi had decided to name an entirely different species altogether anyways. 

Where was the logic in that? 

Actually, because of that alone, he would have questioned his parental ties to the kid, were it not for the obvious facial features and recognisable reiatsu pattern. 

"Well...that is a peculiar dog." 

Daichi giggled before ripping the dog slash horse straight out of his hands and turned to Kisuke. 

Urahara had already said, "Yeah?" in advance to the kid's question, though Daichi still tugged on Kisuke's sleeve to get his attention. 

"There!" the little one pointed to the living room. "I wanna watch TV." 

"Right," Kisuke glanced at the clock, "your program is on." 

Sousuke couldn't pinpoint exactly what, but, he found that there was something...lacking about the child, in comparison to his brother anyhow... While Daichi, as the child who had inherited bits and pieces of the orb, should normally become his prodigy, since he has the ability when the remnants of the Hogyoku grew in accordance with the little one's strength, which will naturally be nurtured by Sousuke. 

He couldn't place it though since he never really came into contact with children -except the brat Gin used to be- but the kid's speech seemed oddly more childish than it ought to be. Of course, Daichi was still a kid and obviously lacked a certain amount of maturity, but there was definitely something not right about his son. 

He saw the kid pulling on Urahara's sleeve again, "No, I still have some things to take care of, but I'm sure your father won't mind watching 'Chi's Sweet Home' with you," said Kisuke with a particular grin turned in Aizen's direction. 

He wanted to ask what Kisuke meant by that, but Daichi tugged on Sousuke's sleeve next, beckoning him to follow. 

Oh, Sousuke recognised that the blond was taking the easy route by shoving a promise to the kid onto Aizen's shoulders, and thus could avoid confronting the brunet any longer about the sleeping arrangements and the sealing of his reiatsu. But no matter, Kisuke was going to abide by his rules anyhow. 

When Urahara turned on the TV, Sousuke was instantly bombarded by flashing images and a drawn cat that was singing some song. He glanced at his son, in search of the same sort of baffled reaction, but instead found the little one's head bobbing along to the song. 

"Do you know what animal that is?" because he was slightly afraid his son would name it a different animal again. 

"Cat." 

"Good. For a minute you had me worried there." He grabbed the plushie that was perched on the couch next to him in order to teach the kid once and for all the difference between a horse and a dog. But, as he questioned Daichi about the sort of animal, his son, strangely enough, could name the plushie the right sort of species. 

"Then why call it a dog?" 

"Doggy!" 

Sousuke made a shushing noise, "There's no need to yell. Why call it doggy?" His son looked at him, and the frightful expression seemed anxious for no particular reason. "Why call it a dog?" he questioned again. 

Daichi rubbed his suddenly red-looking eyes that spelled out the waterworks weren't far from breaking through, which seemed even more strange because all he needed to do was answer a simple query, one that wasn't even ordered in a specific commanding tone. 

"Because!" the kid yelled again, ripped the plushie back out of his hands to practically throw it back on its spot on the couch, next to Sousuke. 

He was just about to teach his son some manners that involved having respect for one's own stuff, but Daichi burst out in tears at exactly that time, just like that, before he could even do or say anything. For a second the shock put a stop to Sousuke's normal reaction capacity, making him unsure of what to do next. 

But he also didn't want to be the reason for his son's misery, nor did he want Kisuke to come to that conclusion. 

The brunet, therefore, got down on the ground, since being at the kid's eye level seemed to draw out a positive reaction -at least when Kisuke did it- "It was only a question," he placated softly afterwards. 

Daichi looked at him and while Sousuke couldn't see the little one's expression because his long bangs practically covered his eyes, the kid was still obviously in tears about it. 

He wanted to do the most important thing right now and that was reaching out to the kid, but he just couldn't figure out where to put his hands on the little one. Turned out he was overthinking it when Daichi saw his open arms as an invitation to fling himself into his embrace, head placed directly on the Hogyoku. 

The brunet patted Daichi's head lightly as the crying ceased and the little one settled himself entirely on his lap. He wasn't sure if his comforting manner was the cause for soothing Daichi's cries or if it was the source of the orb's connection that calmed him down. Probably the latter though, since the Hogyoku was giving off a warmth reminiscent of when he was carrying the twins in the underground prison. 

Even if he had never comforted anyone with the intention of making everything better, he thought that he could get used to the feeling because it was nice...as if he was important to the kid without any other reason besides being there for his son. 

He didn't know how long he ended up sitting there on the ground, only that the kid had fallen asleep and the child's program with the talking cat had ended. 

"I think you handled that as well as you could." 

Sousuke turned to look in the direction of the voice to see Kisuke standing just outside the doorway of the kitchen. "How long have you been standing there?" 

"Long enough," Kisuke replied before coming over to sit on the couch. 

"I don't believe it is solely by my doing that he has calmed down; the Hogyoku definitely holds a part in it." 

Kisuke nodded and softly pushed Daichi's bangs out of his eyes while palming the little one's forehead, presumably to check his temperature. "I have no doubt about that. It creates the same soothing effect that new-borns experience at hearing their mother's heartbeat." 

A sense of security...and that Daichi connected it to him, while most beings certainly wouldn't connect such a feeling to the brunet, put him somewhat at ease. Because that sort of connection was as familiar to him, as it was to the kids; the first **real** bond he ever had with anyone. 

Hinamori had been in love with the attentive persona Aizen played out in Soul Society at the time: someone that was completely foreign from Sousuke himself because she would have never loved him if she had known the real him. Nor would his plan have succeeded if he didn't act that way. 

And Gin...he only got close as a way to gain access to Sousuke to neutralise the orb, nothing more. 

The brunet believed he was as much fooled by them as he had fooled them. 

"He seems a little...behind," Sousuke told the other up front; it was something he had to get off his chest. 

"He is." 

"Then why don't you focus on him more to catch up on the backlog or better yet, why did you let it go that far in the first place?" 

"I'm doing the best I can, but I didn't raise them these past six years. They were brought up in an orphanage until two months ago when I was suddenly confronted by the fact that I had two kids." 

It was something, at least, to know that Kisuke wasn't responsible for it, but that simultaneously confirmed his fear of who was responsible instead. "Mayuri neglected our children." 

Kisuke nodded while Sousuke shifted Daichi's posture so the little one's weight wasn't solely centred on one leg. 

It could only have been Mayuri who would be responsible since he was the one who took his children from him. 

"His hearing is due in a couple of days." 

"He's to appear in front of Central 46?" 

Just for neglecting his sons seems a little ludicrous; the scientist would likely be more praised by that deed than to be condemned. 

"What exactly did he do then?" 

The blond made a motion as if that summed it up before adding a non-elaborate, "Neglect." 

Kisuke's lack of elaboration seemed suspicious on its own and Sousuke was tempted to demand a proper explanation, but Koichi butted into their conversation. 

"Can I have this?" he asked while holding up a bar of chocolate after minutely inspecting his brother's head positioned on the Hogyoku. 

"What did I tell you again?" 

"But, this is chocolate, not a cookie." 

"You're not getting anything before you've eaten dinner; besides, does that come out of my shop?" 

The kid tried to hide a smile by looking up at the ceiling, obviously trying -and failing- to distract Kisuke by asking a completely random question, "Why is there a tear-" 

"Koichi," Kisuke interrupted while Sousuke had to chuckle at the display, which unbeknownst to the brunet, prompted the kid into thinking he did a great job, and Koichi naturally laughed along. "put that back in the shop. I already told you to stay out of there." 

Koichi nodded nonchalantly and turned to face the television. 

"Put the chocolate back, Koichi," Kisuke repeated when the kid continued to watch the TV. 

"Yeah, but, I'm keeping it." 

Sousuke turned the kid back around so he was facing them again and demanded strictly, "If that chocolate bar is not in its place in the next five seconds, I'll help you put it back." 

Koichi looked him up and down as if he was thinking about testing Sousuke's authority, but he decided against it at the last counted second before running back to the shop. 

"He's a handful," Kisuke admitted as soon as the kid was out of earshot. 

'Aizen didn't even know half of what parenting entailed, but he'd be surprised at Koichi's strange character.' 

Speaking of the little rascal, after a while, the little one still hadn't returned from out of his shop, so the shopkeeper set out to investigate their son's antics. Or more like Koichi's tendency to sneakily grab handfuls of candy whenever he got the chance to slip into his shop. 

Not seeing Koichi at first glance meant that the kid was up to no good behind one of the shelves, but in the midst of making his way over, the lights turned off, and seeing as the light switch was located behind him, near the sliding door...well, Kisuke could say that he had found Koichi, or at least he thought he did. 

"Really funny Koichi." It was a good thing he knew his way around in the pitch-black room or it would have otherwise been a track back through a maze of shelves that he would have surely clumsily walked into. 

"Turning off the lights won't aid you in hiding the candy." 

He heard a mumbled reply from beside him, but could just in time recognise the surge of energy rushing his way: plus, Koichi's reiatsu fluctuated in a tell-tale sign of attacking in order to muster up enough strength. 

Lower level kidou spells lightened up in the dark, so unless your opponent had mastered the practice of spells, it was fairly easy to recognise if you were dealing with an amateur or a professional when one couldn't see. 

But, his son was skilled, not to mention he liked to surprise Kisuke... 

It was a higher kidou spell, and thus invisible in the dark, but Kisuke's experience as a Shinigami for over a decade easily deflected that. None the less, he was still shocked at his son's deceitful act. 

Kisuke switched on the light quickly with a reach over of his cane, and the second he turned around with the lights back on, Koichi sprang up into his vision, "Hi, daddy." 

"I don't find that funny," he scolded the other's mischievous bright smile. "Attacking people in the dark isn't good sportsmanship; did you forget the most important thing about sparring? That it's supposed to be a fair game?" 

Koichi's features easily blended into a guilty expression, a little too easily. "I do." 

"I did-" he corrected as the little one quickly picked in on his correction, in order to drown out his voice. 

"I'm sorry, daddy." 

He wasn't sure anymore when Koichi was actually truthful in his apologies. "Well...don't do it again." 

"I won't." 

"Where is the candy bar?" 

Koichi defended his act suddenly while scoffing his way. "I wanted to play hide and seek!" 

The thing with Koichi was that the kid was too smart for his own good. And figured out too early on that he wanted to be right all the time, about everything. All he needed to prove that principle were justifications for any action he did; whether it was good or bad, as long as it fit in Koichi's justifications, it was alright. 

"You could have done that without attacking me. Where is the candy bar?" 

"But! You are more interested with the chocolate." 

Distractions were another excuse to justify those acts... 

"In the chocolate-" 

"With the chocolate!" 

This discussion wasn't going anywhere, so he knelt in front of him, "Koichi." The kid refused to look at him, and instead locked his gaze onto something besides him. "Where is the candy bar?" 

His son held up his hands and shrugged. "Somewhere...maybe in my tummy, maybe over there..." Koichi pointed in a random direction. "...I don't know. Maybe you go look for it!" 

The silver specks in Koichi's amber coloured eyes were highlighted while the kid looked directly in the light, and somehow enhanced his rebellious glint. 

Kisuke nodded briefly, and recognising his efforts as a lost cause, he did a quick search of the candy bar himself before finding it eventually: squished in the wrong shelf with different candy. -at least Koichi had listened to the demand of 'No candy before dinner'. 

It was something at least since Koichi was on a particularly rebellious streak that day. Kisuke even wondered if it had something to do with the Hogyoku. The orb might sooth Daichi since the twin's reiatsu had merged with remnants of the orb, but Koichi might be just as affected by the presence of the orb like any other being that encountered the Hogyoku. 

He couldn't be sure of course since maybe he just had more time now to concentrate on the kids individually when Aizen was around to take care of them as well. 

The blond was out, taking care of the garden later that day when Koichi joined him outside. Daichi was still inside with Aizen; the brunet had volunteered to help them with their homework and Koichi naturally finished earlier than his brother. 

The rascal could keep himself busy fairly easy. Koichi didn't particularly need anything to let his imagination run wild, which was, of course, something specific for that age, so he barely kept an eye on the kid 24/7. 

Until Koichi peculiarly ran from and to the bushes, something clearly in his hands, which he then took somewhere around the corner of the house, before repeating the cycle. 

He was probably keeping a bug hidden as his pet and brought leaves over each time to 'feed it', or something along the lines, knowing children... 

Which became his train of thought the second Koichi yelled, "Daddy! I got a mouse!" 

It's only when he was taking out the trash, around the corner of the house, that he was confronted by Koichi's not so friendly approach regarding animals. 

He heard a sickening crunch as the kid was stomping something completely flat to the ground, crushing it underneath his shoes. 

"What are you doing?" he asked Koichi warily, as the six-year-old pulled back his foot and squatted down to inspect what appeared to be a crushed snail. 

"It's so squishy!" said Koichi with morbid fascination. "Yucky!" came the exclamation after the kid pushed a finger through the slimy remains of the crushed animal. 

And looking around, Kisuke could see that the same fate had happened to the mouse; the leftovers of the little critter were sneakily pushed underneath the bushes. 

Kisuke grabbed a hold of Koichi's forearm to haul him up and focus his attention on Kisuke instead of the dead animal. "Well?!" 

"Look!" replied his son happily, not at all concerned in the slightest by what he had done. 

"What were you doing?!" Kisuke expressed in a clearly disappointed way in order to get some of his negative emotion across to the little one. 

"It's gone; I helped it cross to the next world." 

But the kid wasn't aware of any wrongdoing at all; he seemed proud even, just like the incident of the little story with the lamb. 

"You're not supposed to do that at all! You need to treat animals kindly!" 

Yes, he was raising his voice since the kid literally crushed live animals for enjoyment. And he wasn't sure if this could still be summed up as a result of his bad childhood...because Daichi certainly didn't act this way. 

But, it was safe to assume that Koichi's morals didn't exactly align with normal beings'. 

There was just something...not right with him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Sousuke grimaced at the horribly drawn kanji on the paper in front of him before glancing at Daichi who held his plushie, expectantly awaiting his corrections. 

He couldn’t really correct this... 

His son had to simply draw over already printed kanji characters as if it would aid the kid’s memory this way... it took way too long, he didn’t have the patience for it. Watching his lineage struggle with following some literal guidelines was...redundant. 

What a terrible method. 

“We’re not going to use these anymore.” he told Daichi and pointed at the written sheets. “I’m going to give you a word and you’ll have five minutes to draw it out. Only when you’re unable to come up with a general idea of the kanji, that’s when you’ll be allowed to use the sheet.” 

The kid blinked silently up at him. 

“Is that clear?” 

When the kid put his ‘doggy’ up on the table next to his blank sheet of paper, Sousuke took the plushie to hide it from the other’s sight. 

His son was attentive enough when it came to the children’s toy though, and when he saw it being picked up by him, Daichi got out of his chair to walk around the table towards him in order to get it back. 

“Sit back down.” he said calmly when his son’s lip was beginning to tremble. 

That crying though...needed to stop. 

His son rubbed his eyes with the sleeves of his shirt, following the plushie’s repositioning next to Sousuke’s chair with beady eyes. 

“That is an unnecessary distraction, you will get it back afterwards.” 

The kid still continued his course right next to the chair that held the stuffed animal, before walking back around to his own place, only to grab the blank sheet of paper and ink pen so he could switch his seat right next to the plushie instead. 

Sousuke followed the other’s testy mannerisms with an arch of his eyebrow, qualifying the kid’s actions indirectly as surly behaviour. 

Did his own son just defy him? 

The kid petted the pony’s head with a non-elaborate, ‘Doggy.’ before finally looking back up at Sousuke, with his ink pen ready in the hand. 

It took Sousuke a minute longer to realise that he was staring at Daichi. 

“Write down the word vegetable.” 

The little one visibly cut up the word in different sections, before he wrote the word in hiragana characters. 

Sousuke put his elbows up on the table, before folding his hands on top of each other in the air in order to hide his disappointment from view. 

“Kanji,” He stressed. “not hiragana.” 

“Vegetable!” came his son’s snapped answer while pointing at his word. 

The hiragana characters were even poorly drawn, of course it could be that Sousuke’s own expectations lay a little too high, given that he was a calligraphy instructor at one point in his life time. Although his students at the time, luckily, were not six year olds. 

He was about to show Daichi a glimpse of the kanji characters, but he was interrupted by the commotion of Kisuke and Koichi coming back inside. 

“Wash your hands!” the blond ordered while practically dragging Koichi over to the sink. 

Giving the blond’s irritated scowl a questionable glance, Sousuke was not even given any explanation when it became clear that the kid must have done something that was unacceptable when Kisuke kept reprimanding their son. 

Not exactly behaviour of Kisuke’s that he was familiar with. 

“Don’t let me **ever** see you do that again!” 

He was about to ask the blond specifically about what happened, “Kisu-” before he was made aware of Daichi standing up to retrieve his plushie from the chair to walk away. 

“We’re not done, ye-...” He trailed silently off while Daichi mumbled, “Vegetable.” pointed at his sheet for emphasis before skipping happily off. 

He would have definitely hauled his son back, since it was unacceptable to leave any work unfinished, but he was also curious about Kisuke’s agitation. Trying to ask what happened was unfortunately out of the question when Kisuke walked back outside and locked the door behind him. 

Koichi on the other hand was still drying his hands, not looking in the least bit fazed about Kisuke’s little outburst. 

Which was a little odd. 

Kisuke becoming clearly agitated couldn’t be a habit, could it? He thought the blond was a lot more patient when it came to kids... 

He looked at Koichi questionably to indicate any distress, yet he smiled brightly. “Did something happen outside?” 

Koichi joined him at the table freely and browsed through his brother’s ‘homework’ curiously. “I stepped on a snail and daddy got mad.” 

Well, he was an advocate for animal’s welfare as much as any decent being, but, killing gastropods by accident could sometimes hardly be avoided when the tiny creatures sometimes completely adapted to their environment, making them that much harder to spot. 

But for Kisuke to become mad over something so trivial... 

“That is a little odd.” 

“It is.” Agreed his son with an excessive nod of his head, before he beckoned Sousuke over as if the little one needed to tell him something. “Do you know Aki?” 

What an abrupt change of topic...“No.” 

Aki was most likely an animal or a friend, which Koichi confirmed while informing him whom Aki **was**. Literally, since his friend was gone. 

“How unfortunate.” he told Koichi sympathetically as the kid kept busying himself with neurotically fidgeting with stuff on the table. 

“Daichi ate him.” 

He raised an eyebrow in disbelief, because that seemed highly unlikely. The Hogyoku didn’t interfere with his children’s genes. He may be a higher being now, but the orb concentrated on his and Kisuke’s DNA only, so his twins had not even the slightest bit of the Hollow gene in them, unless... 

He didn’t give Koichi’s story much thought, kids...they made up the most ludicrous fabrications and could fight a war over trivial stuff. 

His son slamming his hands down on the table and yelling, “And I do not forgive him for that!” broke Sousuke forcefully out of his musings. 

The violent expression of feelings though were undeniably influenced by Kisuke’s rather bad approach with their sons. It was about time that he made his entrance in the household to set some things straight. 

“Now, behave, you don’t need to get so mad and stop talking bad about your brother.” 

“But! It is true, he did!” 

Sparing the table from undergoing Koichi’s violent outburst again, he urged the kid’s elbows off of the table. But Koichi resisted his encouragement by folding his arms over each other on the table and avoiding his gaze by planting his head on top of his arms. 

They were so...defiant. 

He scrutinised his son’s posture silently, although his disappointment wasn’t heeded by the little one. Koichi had obeyed him earlier with putting the chocolate candy back in Kisuke’s store, yet right now seemed to go against his wishes completely, both of his children actually... He never imagined nurturing children to be a difficult task, since he did well with his Espada, - and they had sometimes behaved worse than little kids... 

Should he give Koichi a push in the right direction by reprimanding him with his reiatsu? Or did a disciplinary smack suffice? 

Kisuke reentering the house solved it though, this way he didn’t necessarily needed to be the ‘bad’ guy. 

But, the blond didn’t even glance Koichi’s way before disappearing further in the house, which was Sousuke’s cue to follow. 

“What happened outside?” 

Kisuke told him a, “Doesn’t matter.” while gathering laundry. He followed him around the house, giving Kisuke the chance to tell him anyways. And it’s only when Kisuke was busy emptying a whicker basket that Sousuke closed the laundry room to give them some privacy, effectively making Kisuke look up at him and thus gain the other’s undivided attention. 

“Yes, it does matter. We are co-parenting as you said, so I’d like to be informed about everything that involves our kids.” 

“He stepped on a snail.” 

“And that’s the end of the known worlds?” 

The blond heaved a sigh, beginning to browse through the various clothes to sort them. 

It was peculiar to see the other doing something so domestic, and it brought a nostalgia that made him long for those mundane tasks, since throughout all the wars one forgets to live. But not Kisuke, banned from Soul Society and yet he still made the best of it. The blond simply carried on, weathering through any storm. 

“He did it on purpose, that’s the problem.” 

“He is but a child, no need to scare him for life.” 

Kisuke momentarily halted his actions to whisper remorsefully, “Mayuri already did that.” 

“Mayuri will pay.” 

The blond stopped doing laundry entirely to warn him with a finger pointed in his direction. “Don’t you dare,” 

He raised an eyebrow at Kisuke’s unwillingness to seek justice for their children, wasn’t the blond just as mad and of the same opinion regarding Mayuri’s fate? 

“I don’t want you entering Soul Society, you’re going to stay on the down, for now. Attacking is far from the best solution.” 

Exacting revenge would be all in the name of their children...-and maybe just a tiny little amount of a personal grudge about what happened in Muken- But, he could understand Kisuke’s reluctance. It’s all because of Daichi and Koichi that he needed to think twice from now on. He was no longer invincible; he had a weakness now, one that many would take advantage of. 

“You’re going to steer clear off of the route that leads to Soul Society.” 

Yes, as Kisuke said; for now...since he was far from done with Mayuri. And his twins needed to be ready for the confrontation. 

“I mean it, Aizen.” 

Pacifying the other with a wicked smile and an endearing, “I’ll be good.” had Kisuke resuming the task of doing laundry. 

He decided to change the subject in order to avoid lingering on the topic of the Seireitei any longer. 

“So, Aki... Was he a friend of Koichi?” 

He heard Kisuke chuckling. “He has told you the story already?” 

When he silently regarded Kisuke, urging the blond for more details, he saw that the other’s amusement wasn’t reflected in his grey eyes. 

Was it such a concern? 

“He has told the story on numerous occasions...He repeats it constantly, actually.” 

“It was a real child then? Not an imaginary one?” 

“I haven’t really confirmed this with Isane, but I think Aki did exist, I don’t see why he would make it up.” 

Either the need for attention or trauma could lay at the base of such fabrications, he didn’t know what his twins had to suffer, and neither did Kisuke apparently, but if his own isolation was a hint...then his children probably weren’t used to much socialisation. He didn’t really believe that Soul Society would grant his children any freedom or the chance to meet anyone else’s kids for fear of bad influence perhaps? 

“Well, since he told me that Daichi ate him, I find it hard to believe.” 

Hunched over to turn on the washing machine, Kisuke straightened up so fast he might as well have heard the other’s joints crack at the sudden movement. 

“What did he tell you?!” 

It was true then? Did Kisuke know more than he let on or was the shock of the ridiculous story that overwhelming that he couldn’t hide his startled expression fast enough? 

“Does Daichi carry the Hollow gene?” 

Grey eyes widened with a cry of, “No!” before the blond seemingly got a hold of himself and bashfully cleared his throat to tell him, “I doubt it, I haven’t had the chance to do any tests myself, but somehow the thought of doing that makes me uncomfortable.” 

Good, they weren’t his test subjects anyways 

“They had a physical checkup by the fourth division anyhow, so, I would have been informed if that would have been the case.” 

Kisuke’s trust in the Seireitei was an unappealing trait of the blond, even after all they did to their kids, he stayed loyal to Soul Society? 

He smiled pretentiously in answer, since any reply on that topic would be an incentive to disagree with each other. 

“So he made it up?” 

The blond looked him straight in the eye to agree, as if Kisuke was purposely trying to give the impression that he was telling the truth. But he came across too unsure for Sousuke to actually believe him. 

Trying to receive a full verbal response he questioned further, “To get attention perhaps?” 

Kisuke nodded contemplatively. “Perhaps.” 

He saw the other licking his bottom lip in a somewhat nervous gesture. Oh, Kisuke was the worst at lying... 

“Mmhmm.” 

The blond must have read his mistrust from his expression and suddenly sought an excuse to dodge his questioning by making a hand motion to let him pass. 

He expressively stepped aside, “Go ahead, Kisuke.” and the use of his given name had Kisuke eying him a tad bit longer. The blond then tried to open the door, but when it didn’t budge had to unlock the door first in order to ‘escape’ from him. Afterwards Kisuke hurried out of the room as if he was chased by Hollows. 

The apprehensive display had Sousuke chuckling in amusement. 

Since getting useful info out of Kisuke turned out to be a fail, he went in search of Daichi to educate the little one further. 

He found the aforementioned twin in front of the television watching that...absurd programming with the cat again. And apparently the same dull episode. Watching his son had Daichi briefly smiling brightly up at him before the child concentrated back on the TV. 

Was there a problem with the kid’s memory? Because he was sure that Daichi had seen that part already. 

The plush pony sat conveniently next to Daichi on the couch, so Sousuke picked up the plushie to sit down next to him in order to coax the kid to do his homework in a friendlier manner. Though Daichi sprang up immediately to demand his ‘Doggy’ back. 

“Sit down.” 

But Daichi mumbled incoherent words, by whining to get the plushie back. 

He put the pony on his right side on the couch, but it had the same effect of having his son change position to sit as near as possible to the stuffed animal. This time on the ground in front of it. 

It was like an obsession. The little one kept the stuffed toy as close as kids in his time kept wooden zanpakuto close. They were ignorant of the dangers and far too childish... 

“Right, who knows it might run away from you?” he remarked brusquely, but the child didn’t understand the irony, because Daichi took it literally. The little one showed him the cord around the plushie’s neck, explaining happily how doggy couldn’t run from him. “I see.” 

He smiled just as exaggeratedly back, even though he couldn’t really laugh anymore now that he had experienced how much of a bad effect the neglect had had on his sons. 

“Let’s continue the lesson, shall we?” 

“No.” 

An unexpected response, since if the little one decided to disagree, Sousuke at least expected a full answer, and not a single negative statement without a proper reasoning. 

“Why not?” When the little one looked away from him, in the direction of the TV, he was about ready to turn the childish entertainment off in order to get Daichi’s attention. “Because of the television?” 

“No.” 

He had always prided himself, -and was seen as by others- as an immensely patient person, though in truth he was just that good at hiding his agitation. But he was quick beginning to understand that children were skilled at breaking his collected state a tad bit sooner....than others. 

“Let’s continue the lesson anyways, mmh?” 

“No.” 

He could relatively easily keep his expression neutral, but his patience was dwindling fast. Why couldn’t Daichi just do as he was told? Children were little beings that were in need of control by a higher up, so it shouldn't be this difficult. 

When a little bit more than the standard answer of ‘no’ slipped out of the kid’s mouth, he looked expressively at Daichi, though he had to wait a little bit longer in order for his son to get to the conclusion of his statement. 

“I want...” 

He could practically see Daichi’s attention-span racing back and forth from the cat on the TV to him and right back to the talking feline while trying to come up with words. 

“I want...” 

“Yes, you want?” He stressed. 

“I want...” the little one pointed in a random direction, “to do the lesson.” 

“The cat?” he questioned a little bit harsher, since he couldn’t really make anything sensible out of the mumbling. 

Daichi shook his head furiously before responding uncertainly, “Daddy?” 

Now it made somewhat sense. “You want Kisuke,...daddy to teach you the lesson?” 

“Yes.” 

Oh, what a disappointment. 

He was a better choice in teaching obviously, since he taught students at the Shino academy. Kisuke had zero experience in educating youngsters. Except the other’s choice of mentoring Ichigo, though the blond’s method of education had more similarities of an amateur rather than a responsible and mature teacher. 

“Why would you want daddy to teach you? I can help you as well, better actually, since you don’t seem to be making a progress with the help of daddy, mmh?” 

Daichi shrugged nonchalantly. “Daddy...make me laugh.” 

“Oh, I’m sure, he’s quite...humorous, although I’m not sure if that is the proper term I’m looking for. Comical might come closer to it.” 

His son blinked owlishly up at him. 

As he smiled at Daichi, the kid kept staring silently at him. 

This was getting nowhere...he was about to grab the remote in order to turn off Daichi’s distraction and enforce the kid to do the lesson anyways, when Koichi came running up to him and immediately called the attention away from his brother by shoving an oddly drawn picture into his hands. 

“For you.” 

He looked at the...scribbles, the disorderly and hastily drawn mish mash of colours and lines didn’t really represent anything in his mind. 

Turning his head to look at his second son, he queried, “And this is...?” 

Unlike his brother, Koichi was eager to explain everything in detail. “That is you, and that is daddy, and that is me and th-” 

He held up a hand to signal that he understood it by now, but as he glanced a second time at the drawn picture, he tried to reposition the paper a couple of times in order to actually see what the kid saw. 

The kid intrusively blocked his view of the picture suddenly by bending over the drawing he held so Koichi’s head was in his vision, looking up at him. The little one then pushed Sousuke’s long hair that had fallen forward while looking down at the picture out of the way. 

Koichi was a little...pushy. Perhaps a quality that he inherited from him, since invading someone else his space is a form of intimidation. But it’s less appealing when one’s the receptor of that gesture. 

He straightened his posture on the couch, indirectly creating some space between them while smiling neutrally at his son. 

“And? What do you think?” 

Of course Koichi was waiting on an evaluation. 

The only thing he could come up with though, regarding the hastily drawn scribbles was, “Why don’t I have any hair?” 

“You do.” said the kid, and pointed at the drawn circle that had a crooked vertical line running down what presumably was one of his eyes. It represented the lock of hair that obstructed the vision of his left eye sometimes, due to the long length. 

“Ah.” Well, he wasn’t expecting his children to be outstanding in art anyways. “And where is the rest?” because he looked rather bald in the drawing, while he had more than just one lock of hair, in his new transformation as a higher being that should be rather obvious with his long locks. 

“I know,” Kisuke butted in out of nowhere, leaning over the back of the couch to nose into their conversation. “Koichi didn’t draw anything else, since he’s perceptive and understands that you’re rather...” 

He narrowed his eyes at the blond’s amusement, daring the other to finish his sentence. 

“...full of yourself and Koichi decided to represent that in an abstract fashion by drawing a blank space around your head.” the blond nodded amusedly at his own explanation while turning to look at Koichi. “I can see that.” 

The pillow on the couch next to him was looking oddly tempting to use on the blond... 

“And that was daddy you said?” Sousuke questioned for conformation of the other drawn stick figure with a lot of hair and a distasteful hat on top of the mop of hair. 

Koichi nodded. “Yeah, that’s daddy.” 

“Ah yes, I was questioning what that oddity was...but now that I’m certain that it’s daddy, that peculiar drawn thing is suddenly making a lot of sense. It has a lot of similarities with daddy, just as...odd.” 

“It does.” agreed Koichi enthusiastically while Kisuke was still smiling brightly, chuckling even. 

The blond leaned in closer to whisper in his ear, “That makes you a fetishist of the abnormal, since you’re attracted to that oddity.” 

“Opposites attract.” He replied instantly while Kisuke laughed. 

A meek mumble of, “Daddy.” had the blond suddenly stare at Daichi, whom had come around the couch to give something to Kisuke. It’s not like it was Daichi’s first word, but Kisuke’s expression definitely represented that. 

“What did you call me?” The other asked in a voice full of pride and awe. 

Their shy son didn’t repeat it, but instead decided to coax the blond to look at the paper he had given Kisuke. When Sousuke took a look at the sheet of paper, he saw it was the one that had the preprinted kanji on it. “You do that.” 

Sousuke looked back in front of him, feeling slightly upset about his son’s favoritism of the blond’s teaching method. “Yes, apparently you’re so funny.” 

He heard the excitement in blond's voice, whether it had to do with knowing Daichi favoured him or something else didn’t really interest Sousuke at that moment. He didn’t bother glancing behind him to check when they disappeared towards the kitchen to draw over already drawn kanji, since that was simply unproductive. 

Koichi on the other hand kept looking at him, so he put the picture aside and turned off the TV, since that was if anything, not the right sort of stimulus his twins needed. 

“I was watching that.” said Koichi as he tried to take the remote from him. 

“Not anymore.” He held on to the remote tightly, not giving his son the chance to tug it out of his hands. 

Koichi used his reiatsu directly in answer to force it out of his hand, and Sousuke was minutely impressed by the feel of his son’s pressure, although it was just as messy as the kid’s drawing. There was no control whatsoever of his spiritual power, so a small persuasive push of his own pressure against his son’s had the kid letting go immediately. Just a teeny tiny amount and not even for the duration of a second, since he didn’t want to injure his son, nor enlighten Soul Society about his whereabouts. 

The little one’s expression contorted in a frown, sulking explicitly in front of him by sitting down on the coffee table with his arms crossed over each other. 

Now he didn’t want the kid to foster a hatred towards him either, so he tried to pacify Koichi’s surly behaviour by glancing back at his drawing, coercing his son into a conversation and thus distract him from that sulky state. 

“And that is your brother?” he pointed at the smallest of the stick figures. 

Koichi’s scowl worsened before he straight out ripped the drawing out of Sousuke’s hands, so it cut into his skin due to the little one’s forceful nature. Not that it was life-threatening by far, especially with the orb healing it in a second, but, Koichi needed to learn how to control that anger. 

“Daichi is no longer there! It’s Aki I drawn.” 

“Drew.” 

Odd explanation when Koichi’s brother was currently in the kitchen. But it could probably be summed up to another one of Koichi’s fabrications. Or it could it even be something as simple as sibling rivalry. He never had a sibling, but he had heard of such trivial quarrels. 

Except all those...made up stories, Interacting with his sons made him notice that Koichi seemed smarter than Daichi, the child was already knowledgable of Souls being reborn. 

For the rest though, he was just as defiant as his brother, since the kid walked away from him while eyeing him with a scowl until he disappeared into the kitchen. 

Well, since everyone seemed to be migrating around Kisuke, he followed along in order to study the other’s kanji lesson and indirectly ‘advise’ the blond here and there. 

-0- 

What a day it had been. Kisuke was literally exhausted from the stress of having Aizen meet their children, not to mention the great escape... Afterwards he was confronted by Aizen worming his way into his life by nestling -unwanted- into his home. Then Koichi had decided to rebel... 

Koichi,... He hoped that meeting Mayuri would make him understand his son better. Because he only wanted the best for his twins, but the outspoken one of the two made it rather difficult lately to sympathise with. 

Something Koichi had in common with the brunet actually, since Aizen was another being that did some questionable things and that made it hard to care about him, or build something up with him for that matter. 

The first day of having Aizen around had gone really well though, the brunet had done his best as far as Kisuke knew. Of course, one day of taking care of the twins is hardly a representation of a good caretaker. If the brunet wanted to commit himself to being a parent, then Kisuke could hardly call this a success, although he had to admit; it was a beginning. 

The twins were asleep, and in those few hours without the kids, conversation between the two of them had fallen quiet. Aizen didn’t even make a big deal of the sleeping arrangements anymore. 

Or so he thought... 

The brunet had gone to bed a little bit earlier than him, so Kisuke was sure of the other having chosen one of the remaining empty rooms. 

Up until Kisuke decided to go to bed that was... 

The second he had walked into his bedroom, he had switched on the light, and that’s when he found out that the brunet had not only nestled himself into his house, but in his bed as well. 

Aizen had made motions of shielding off his eyes from the sudden light while telling him with a raspy voice full of sleep, “Come, Kisuke.” The inviting manner in which the brunet drew back the sheets, showing of far too much skin when he was about to call it a day, made Kisuke’s traitorous nether regions burn with a familiar desire, contradicting heavily with his mental decision of keeping things merely platonic. 

Fighting against the temptation he looked anywhere but the brunet’s way, telling him, “Out.” 

“Now, don’t be shy, you have slept with me already, come.” 

The sleep had completely disappeared from the other’s voice and Kisuke could vaguely make out the brunet’s straightened posture on his futon, even though he avoided looking in the general direction. 

“Out, Aizen.” 

“I’ll be good if that’s what you’re afraid of, I’ll keep my hands above the sheets.” 

A chuckle that sounded way more wicked than innocent, like the portrayal of the other’s statement, made him steadfastly urge Aizen out of his room. 

It wasn't that he didn't trust Aizen, Kisuke actually didn’t trust himself... He wouldn’t be able to keep his own promise if he had to lay down next to the brunet. He had had Aizen already and before the other’s escape from Muken, he would have given anything to have another night with him. 

But, he was going to keep being headstrong about the fact, that this time, he wouldn’t go dick first into Aizen. Not without actually getting to know the brunet, or to find out what the other’s intentions were first. 

The question was; how long was he going to be able to keep that up? He was only but a man and having someone willing nearby...especially when he was particularly horny... 

“Aizen, come on, we made a deal.” 

“Did we? I can’t remember that.” 

Not feeling the need to prove his point or convince the other to leave, he decided to sleep in the empty guest-room himself. Only when he turned around, did Aizen obey his request, reluctantly sure, but he listened. 

With a deep sigh and drawled, “Fine.” the brunet got up. 

Kisuke turned back around, but the sight of the other’s completely naked body had him turn back to safety. Well, into the right angle so he could glance in the mirror to take a little peek anyhow. 

When Aizen stretched his hands above his head to slip on that gown, that had a striking similarity to a wedding dress for some reason, his eyes followed the length of that sinewy body with a heated curiosity. Because it was just as lean and smooth as he remembered it to be. Following the pronounced V of those hips eagerly, Aizen’s soft cock hung proudly and even seemed to twitch in the slightest at excitement? 

He looked back up, since his subtle glance had long since turned into outright staring, and he came in direct contact with smouldering dark eyes through the mirror. 

“Enjoying the view, Urahara-san?” the brunet let the long robe drop down, covering everything up in an instant. 

Aizen then practically prowled his way which made Kisuke fidget uncomfortably, but all the other did was give him a quick once over to state a, “Praise that you were borne with two hands, because I am sure that one of them is going to come in handy tonight.” 

Yes, he was hard from just seeing a little bit of skin. But it had literally been way too long since he’d some, so it was only natural. He just hadn’t thought it to be that noticeable through his hakama... 

The brunet smiled, “Goodnight.” and left his room soon after. 

At least he had enough self control... 

But he didn’t really like slipping into the cold part of his futon when there was already a pre-warmed spot, one that distinctly had the scent of the brunet, so he went straight for the side of his futon that had previously been occupied by the other. It was at least less shameful to say that instead of admitting on the fact hat he secretly wanted to bask in that sweet warmth... 

Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to enjoy himself when Daichi had an episode again. 

Any explicit or dirty thought disappeared instantly when he heard Daichi screaming and crying, stuck in his panic attack. And as habit would have it, he immediately shunpo’d to his lab to get the elixir that always managed to calm his son. 

He held his son down as soon as he was about to administer the medicine, when Aizen shoved him out of the way. It was accompanied by a small dosage of reiatsu, but it kept him back physically as he wanted to reach Daichi again in order to help him. 

“Drugging our child, are you out of your mind?!” 

The brunet’s tone was patronising, as if Kisuke had deliberately been harming their kid... 

On the contrary he was relieving their son from the horrors his mind couldn’t let go off. 

He tried to break through Aizen’s security, but the brunet kept him forcefully out. 

“Aizen! He is stuck in a panic-attack. You think I haven’t tried anything else yet?! He doesn’t answer to the call of my reiatsu whatsoever.” 

Stubborn as Aizen was the brunet tried to prove him wrong by using his own reiatsu in order to alleviate their son’s alarming stress levels. Yet, without any desirable outcome. For a minute it even seemed as if it was increasing Daichi’s panic. 

Until Aizen activated the orb to help their child. 

Yes, Daichi inherited remnants of the orb, but, that didn’t mean that the Hogyoku wasn’t capable of causing harm. The restorative abilities are in first instance meant for the host himself, not anyone else. At least that was never tested... 

The only thing that mattered at that moment was that his invention tranquillised their son lulling him into a peaceful sleep. 

Though, as soon as Aizen’s shield vanished, Kisuke inspected Daichi with a glowing palm to make sure that the orb hadn’t caused any harm. Which could after all have been a possibility, since the orb had been adjusted by Aizen. 

Everything was fortunately alright. 

He glanced at Aizen, whose left hand was grasping the orb tightly. 

“It’s such a strange sensation when you order it to do something.” 

“Me? I didn’t do anything.” Kisuke hadn’t even considered that option, not even once, while it indeed could have lessened Aizen’s strength to keep him at bay from their son. 

But if Aizen, nor he had not ordered the Hogyoku, could it then have been a spontaneous reaction of the orb? 

In the end, both he and Aizen had only wanted one thing for their little one. And maybe that caused the Hogyoku to pick up on their intent. Or...did it have something to do with Daichi’s connection to the orb after all? 

The Hogyoku stayed a mystery and that was awful to say, since he was declared the master of the orb... 

“Is everything ok with Daichi?” 

Koichi was peering through the dark at them, from behind the wall divider. 

“It’s fine now, go back to bed.” 

When Koichi ignored Kisuke’s advice and instead went over to them, the blond couldn’t simply send Koichi back to bed without giving the kid a chance to talk about it. Those panic-attacks had to have an effect on Koichi as well, he had to helplessly watch his brother struggle unconsciously without even being able to help. 

They remained seated on the edge of the futon for more than half an hour, both to watch over Daichi and to sooth Koichi’s concerns regarding his brother. Afterwards, both he and Aizen tucked Koichi into bed, before they went into the kitchen for a much needed tea-break. 

“You can’t tell me that that was the cause of neglect, you can’t fool me with that.” The brunet had his hands clasped around his hot mug while knowingly looking into Kisuke’s eyes. 

“No, you’re right...there was more. I’m unfortunately just as uninformed as you about what exactly happened. The only one that knows is-” 

“Mayuri.” 

Kisuke looked into his own mug in order to hide his despair from view, even though Aizen was probably aware that he was trying to keep Aizen from knowing too much, because the last thing they needed right now was another war. 

“Yes.” 

The hints of cannibalism was one thing that was beginning to clear up, but not in the right sense. It was becoming a highly likely possibility that it had happened in the orphanage. He had never heard Daichi mentioning Aki, but maybe they had never met, since Daichi had been isolated the entire time as far as he knew. And Aki had presumably been a friend of Koichi’s, thus Aki had to have been housed in section 12 as well, far away from Daichi. 

He could speculate all he wanted...but it was never going to give him a direct answer to his questions. 

“In the name of our children, you will take revenge, right?” 

Revenge...oh, he wanted to. But he had to be careful around Aizen with that, the brunet would punish all of Soul Society, since Aizen’s wrath went further than the harm that’s been done on their children. 

“I won’t let it go unpunished, I promise you that.” 

But that’s also the only thing he could promise Aizen right now. Aizen didn’t need to be encouraged in any way to exact his own revenge. 

At the same time though, both he and Aizen shared a pain they could bond over. 

“Do you remember anything of your time in Muken?” he tried carefully, since he only needed the slightest suspicion of any noble member having visited the brunet to validate Central 46’s involvement. “I mean, have you seen anyone, besides Mayuri?” 

“No, I told you, it was all a haze. I was kept in a drowsy state, more asleep than awake. I can’t remember anything except the news of Daichi and Koichi having perished.” 

He grimaced at the mere implication. 

“At absolutely no point in time were you awake?” 

A sedated state that had kept Aizen’s reiatsu levels static was just as daunting. Anything could have happened to the brunet in that unconscious state, because Aizen had far too many enemies... 

“No.” 

Why did he always stumble upon dead-ends? 

“I’m going to bed.” It was no use anyways, he was no step further than yesterday. 

-0- 

“I can take care of our kids as well, no need to bring them to a stranger.” 

He steadfastly avoided Aizen as he told their twins to get themselves ready in order to visit Yoruichi for a couple of hours. She could babysit them while he had to go to Isane for their evaluations. 

“First of all, Yoruichi is not a stranger. Secondly, I’m not leaving you alone with our offspring while anyone of Soul Society could barge in, ready to apprehend you.” 

“How in the name of the Royal Realm could anyone possibly breach your security to get through?” 

The seals around his house and shop were strengthened, along with the portal that lead to Soul Society, but that didn’t mean that it was safe to leave Aizen alone with the kids. The biggest mistake a Shinigami could make was thinking they were untouchable. 

He was currently waiting in the doorway as their twins made some last minute preparations, that involved looking for Daichi’s doggy... 

“You apparently did.” 

The corners of Aizen's mouth lifted in a prideful smile. “Yes, well...anyone besides me of course.” 

Kisuke made a mocking motion of surprise. “Of course.” 

“And if anyone did dare to make an entrance, don’t you worry, I’ll be keeping myself undercover, I won’t engage in the confrontation.” 

He joined Daichi in the search for his Doggy. The stuffed animal was found easier when someone went actively looking for it, instead of moping around like the little one did. “And how are you going to do that, hide under the closet?” 

“With the help of your wonderful invention.” 

He looked up from his search beneath the dresser, to see Aizen holding up one of his reiatsu concealing cloaks. 

“It amazes me how you’re able to get your hands on my stuff without you having to make any effort...” 

“It means we’re meant to be.” Aizen winked flirtatiously which Kisuke could smartly elude by finding Daichi’s plushie, stuck between the folds of his futon. 

“Alright kids,” he said, eager to dodge the other’s dangerous temptations for awhile. “Let’s play a game; you see your father over there?” he gestured at the aforementioned brunet and the two blond heads nodded in sync. “We won’t tell anyone that father is here.” Accompanying that statement with a shushing motion that had the kids excited for some reason. “It’s our secret.” 

So much for telling Koichi not to lie when he was now urging the kids to do exactly that. Children and keeping secrets were never a good combination, but he hoped that Aizen living with him could be kept as classified information between the twins for as long as possible.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Conduct disorder; that’s what Koichi had been diagnosed with. The 4th division were of the opinion that the upbringing of the children in section ten to twelve was the result of their distorted perceptions of reality. Which was the cause of Koichi’s severe mood swings, or as Kisuke had speculated; his bipolar behaviour. His son’s disproportionate reactions to different sort of situations, which was often represented by bursts of anger or violence, were impulses that weren’t triggered by any specific traumatic experience itself. Since the children in section ten to twelve were used to normal routine, the disorder, as far as it could be called that, since it was specifically behavioural related, was likely the result of neglected parenting throughout the first crucial years of childhood. 

“Koichi hardly shows signs of depression so we ruled out the chance of it being bipolar disorder.” 

Koichi’s treatment was therefore going to be turned around to focus on cognitive behavioural therapy. Restructuring the kid’s proces of how to handle his own outbursts and learn how to control that in order to function normally again. 

“We’re going to teach Koichi of how to cope with his impulsive anger by teaching him to recognise his own impulses so we can reform that behaviour.” 

“No medication?” 

“There will be mood stabilisers which Koichi will only have to ingest when he’s having a particular intensive outburst, but, we will focus primarily on coping skills and afterwards expose him to what lay at the base of his neglect, which is section twelve of the orphanage.” 

Kisuke can only image how that would be perceived by Koichi. 

Isane studied his features for a while before questioning, “You don’t seem to agree?” 

Indeed, he still couldn’t exactly put his finger on it, the disorder perhaps came close, but, somehow he had doubts that it simply was dysfunctional behaviour. 

“Why is Dr. Yamanashi of the impression that Koichi was indirectly taught this behaviour?” 

“For fear of disclosing personal information,” At his narrowed eyes, Isane reassured him that the info had nothing to do with his twins, but confessions of other children. “we are able to affirm that rivalry and hate were encouraged between the kids in the communal space, friendships were looked down upon. Thus a major fault in the children’s upbringing.” 

“I don’t know, he hurts animals, kills them even, and I get nothing out of him. I’ve got a feeling that he’s detached from feeling any genuine emotion regarding compassion for any living being.” 

“Because it was influenced by the orphanage. Lack of understanding made Koichi ignorant to the fact that it’s crucial in society to sympathise with another. He has been bred to engage in arguments and fights. But we have seen positive influences in Koichi, he knows how to be sorry.” 

Kisuke shook his head, “No,” Koichi is smart and knows he’s supposed to act that way, he’s knowledgable enough of how to supposedly react in society, the child plays in on those emotions craftily whenever he feels that he’s losing a battle. “he doesn’t.” 

But who was he to say otherwise? The 4th division specialises in both physical and mental health. Kisuke could do his own tests on Koichi, but that’s exactly what he wants to avoid; he is their parent, not his children’s doctor. 

She looked sadly at him. “Don’t give up on your children, they need you now the most.” 

He would never give up on his kids, that was not even a consideration. “I’m not, I guess I’m just stressed about everything...” maybe the best approach for now, regarding Koichi, was biding time to see if the new course of therapy would have any effect. 

Next was Daichi’s evaluation and he was diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder. 

Oppositional defiant disorder just as Koichi’s conduct disorder was caused by environmental factors. 

“But Daichi isn’t aggressive.” 

Isane disagreed though. “Not to animals and not in the sense that he would attack anyone without a specific reason, but Daichi is very defiant and refuses to comply with requests. He’s verbally aggressive, unlike Koichi.” 

That had been the case in the beginning yes, and Daichi still behaved defiantly towards Isane or Dr. Yamanashi...but...his attitude had improved drastically. 

“He has an impaired cognitive process so his failure in communication or emotional reactions lay at the base of that. We will focus on cognitive behavioural therapy, just like Koichi, but Daichi will have to improve his social skills, as well as participate in assertiveness training. He will also have to learn how to communicate with others. His therapy sessions will now be done in a group, consisting of fellow children that inhabited section four to six.” 

Well...that was the biggest problem for Daichi. He couldn’t agree more on the therapy, even if it would require major adaptations from his son and would bring along al lot of stress for the little one. 

“I’ll prescribe him some mood stabilisers as well, but only to be used in severe mood-swings. They can’t become dependant on the medication.” 

“I know.” He actually would rather not give them any drugs at all. 

Isane gave him the medication and right before Kisuke was about get up in order to leave again, she carefully added, “A difficult temperament and impulsiveness...can sometimes be caused by genetic influences.” 

Sitting back down, he said, “You mean...Aizen?” to which Isane nodded. “He’s not antisocial though...” 

Kisuke had expected the hint at Aizen to be mentioned, one way or another... 

“Well...his past actions weren’t very people orientated either, he was very exploitative of other Souls in order to gain his own success. It actually confirms his lack of empathy towards others.” She objected in a quiet murmur as if she was afraid to diagnose Aizen entirely. 

He still would rather avoid the subject of Aizen’s personality. The brunet was likely narcissistic, but nothing highly psychotic. 

“Of course it’s just a possibility. Prenatale factors take play into shaping their behaviour as well. The twins’s birth hardly went without any complications. Lack of proper nutrients and the mother’s, or carrier’s in this case, substance abuse during the pregnancy could have even influenced those behaviours. Aizen was doped up in Muken, we know that as much.” 

Those indicators were mere speculation or an ultimate advantage to avert the blame from Mayuri. Yes, Aizen’s pregnancy likely hadn’t went as it should have, but he was not to blame for their kids’ disorders. 

“You have to admit that you’re trying to grasp at straws here.” 

“We have to make do with the knowledge available to us.” 

Those minors indicators aside, both of his twin’s disorder could develop into antisocial personality disorder, so it was crucial for both of them to step in anyhow. Antisocial personality disorder was a known precursor to landing a one way ticket into the Maggot’s nest. The criminally insane or overall dangerous individuals all displayed antisocial behaviours. And that was if anything not the sort of future that Kisuke wished upon his kids. 

-0- 

As he entered the kitchen of the Shihoin estate he made sure to be quiet and hide his reiatsu so he could observe Yoruichi silently. The Shihoin estate had always been like his second home and since he practically spent his youth here none of the servants or guards made a fuss about his trespassing. It was just hilarious to see his childhood friend act so...motherly? 

She was busy in the kitchen, which was another thing that surprised him, since they normally had servants for that...And yet there she was, cooking something while her son sat on the counter next to the one she was preparing food on. She fed Raiden bits and pieces now and then while the kid munched away. 

“My my, seems like Grimmjow isn’t the only kitty tamed.” 

Yoruichi looked back, momentarily surprised by his presence before throwing a towel at him. Which missed Kisuke narrowly. 

“It’s called nurturing, Kisuke.” 

“Aha, never thought I’d see the day that you would slave away for a man.” 

She stuck her tongue out at him. All the while her son seemed just as amused and mimicked his mother happily. 

Okay, she wasn’t exactly the ideal mother figure yet, not that Kisuke could say much, since he and Aizen weren’t picture perfect either. 

“How have they been?” 

She pointed in the direction of the garden and Raiden jumped off of the counter to sprint outside, probably to alert Daichi and Koichi that Kisuke was back. They were so agile already at that age, probably the Hollow genes...or cat like traits from both parents. 

“Your son is being a bad influence on my daughters by digging the grounds on the search for earthworms.” 

He raised an eyebrow while Yoruichi commented, “Don’t ask.” Well, as long as the tiny creatures weren’t undergoing any sort of harm, they could dig away. 

“Even Daichi?” 

“No, he’s been watching cartoons the whole time.” 

Ah well, as long as he enjoyed himself... 

She turned to face him, making it apparent to Kisuke that she had just been slicing different sort of fruits, and not exactly cooking. Now that made a lot of sense... “How were their evaluations?” 

He pulled the documents from the bag that contained their medication and put the files on the table for her to go through. It was a little too uncomfortable to talk about out loud. Not that he was ashamed though, since he had been aware of their mental health long enough. But he needed some time to process it first. 

His friend sat down and while browsing through the reports asked, “Do you want to stay over for dinner?” 

Kisuke eyed the sliced fruits on the counter. “A fruit salad?” 

“No, that’s just a healthy snack, I mean actual dinner.” 

He grabbed a couple of apple slices and in between bites told her, “No...I need to go home.” Aizen was waiting after all. It was not really a good idea to leave him alone in the first place. 

“Wifey’s waiting?” 

The blond almost choked on the small piece of fruit at that and he looked back at her, and she was smiling widely at him. “Did Daichi or Koichi say something?...” 

She neither confirmed or denied that, just a vague, “They didn’t have to.” 

Kisuke tried to school his features, not really sure if she was talking about Aizen or trying to fish around for info on a potential partner, because she dared to do that sometimes. 

“Oh, come on Kisuke, I’ve known you since we were nine, I would be an awful friend if I still didn’t know you right now.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Kids say the darnest things...and you know Koichi-” 

She was still silently reading through the files, but when she turned a page, she mindlessly hinted, “He dropped off of the world map, where else could he have gone off to than to the one who knocked him up in the first place?” 

Okay, she was definitely talking about Aizen... 

“Shh!” He hushed her as soon as a servant walked into the kitchen. And his friend just chuckled amusedly. Not that the servant was knowledgable of everything in the Seireitei, but you never know... 

“And you take in everyone, your place is practically a hotel.” 

He sat down next to her in order to tone down their conversation somewhat. “What can I say? I’m very hospitable.” 

She smirked, “And the fact that you two have...” and made a very suggestive gesture with both of her hands. “...had nothing to do with it?” 

“No!” Kisuke denied in a harsh whisper, before smiling innocently back and trying to diminish the fact that it didn’t deter him whatsoever. “Of course not. I mean yeah,...we had...” he whispered the next word behind his fan. “sex...but I’m keeping it merely platonic now.” 

He looked quite offended though when his friend burst out laughing at that. 

“You?” she said with the greatest disbelief. 

Oh come on...why was it so unbelievable? 

Kisuke nodded determinedly, not really sure if he was convincing himself or trying to convince her. 

But he had made a promise to himself; if he wanted anything with Aizen, he wanted to get to know him first before diving under the sheets again. And he was going to keep that promise. 

He was just about to tell Yoruichi about his good intentions when she lowered her voice as well, “I’m not judging you, but you need to know that an investigation team will be sent to your house either tomorrow or the day after. Overall I think it’s best if you aren’t too active in Karakura town with the whole family...” 

That’s advice that he was going to follow by heart. 

“Koichi’s violent?” Yoruichi suddenly questioned him with her full attention directed on him. 

Was she asking because she feared Koichi’s presence around her triplets now or was she merely curious? Whatever intent she even had while asking, she deserved the truth anyhow and he told her about his son’s unfriendly approach to meeting Kazui for the first time or animals in general. 

Yoruichi didn’t seem worried at first glance, but she did decide to check up on the kids outside either way. Whether the fruit salad was an excuse or not, Kisuke couldn’t really blame her. 

“Hi daddy,” Koichi greeted from his squatting position on the ground while he was flanked by both of Yoruichi’s daughters. Apparently they were studying earthworms after all... because the annelid squirmed before them on the ground while the kids observed it. 

“We buildin’ a house.” One of the girls spoke up excitedly. 

Well, it was a rather large house for such a minuscule creature. The exotic flowers and shrubbery of the Shihoin estate were still intact, but the tunnels the kids made by hand, by the looks of the girls’ dirty palms and nails, was a terrible smudge on the normally perfect sight of the luscious garden. 

Koichi’s hands though were still clean as if his son had taken care of the instructions and he looked proud of it. 

Kisuke chuckled and commented positively on the earthworm’s new environment. And before Yoruichi got it in her head to force Kisuke to fix the garden’s situation, he announced that they better head back home. 

-0- 

The twins raced each other up the ladder again in order to presumably greet Aizen. Although the brunet was nowhere near in sight. Kisuke wasn’t worried about the fact that the investigation team was sent out earlier than expected, but more or less a little concerned about the possibility of Aizen having fled responsibility. Even if the other had sounded determined about taking care of the twins, that did absolutely not mean that Aizen could have lied either way. 

And that would be such a disappointment to their children... 

He set out to search the house and only found the brunet after Aizen dispelled Bakudo 26, revealing himself from his cloak of kidou. 

“Wow, can you teach me?!” was Koichi’s excited statement immediately when he found out. 

Before Aizen could agree to tutor their kid on kidou in general, Kisuke said, “Maybe later, first you need perfect control of your reiatsu to even be able to pull that off.” or their rampant tendrils of pressure would give them away anyhow. 

And even then, teaching something like Bakudo 26, which was in first instance an aid rather than a destructive spell, it could still be used for ulterior motives; such as spying. The fact that Koichi was already a little rascal, learning that kidou would be put off for as long as possible, until their son actually cared to listen properly. 

Koichi pouted, “But! I wanna play hide and seek, and I can’t do that without that.” he pointed in Aizen’s direction expressively. 

“You can play that game just fine without any kidou, in fact it would be the perfect opportunity for you to show me that you’re able to control your pressure.” 

As Daichi tugged at his sleeve in order to get his attention and fix Doggy’s leash/cord around the pony’s neck, Kisuke saw Koichi shuffling closer to Aizen to whisper loudly. 

“Will you teach me that?” 

Honesty it was not even close to a whisper. 

“I heard that.” he addressed Koichi specifically while Aizen chuckled amusedly, not really granting their son an immediate answer. 

“But! How would I play hide and seek without hiding?” 

“How **could** I play hide and seek-” 

“How?!” Responded Koichi firmly, trying to evade his correction altogether by shortening his question completely. 

He gave Daichi his plushie back and before the little one could run off to seclude himself from them, he told him excitedly, “You know, that’s actually not a bad idea, let’s play hide and seek.” glancing at Aizen, he could see the brunet’s expression reforming into a slight grimace. 

“A children’s game?” 

Kisuke subtly pointed for emphasis at their twins. “It’d be fun.” 

Since Daichi wasn’t exactly familiar with the whole concept of playing a game in the first place, he tried to encourage the little one specifically. “It’s a learning process, we will hide ourselves, together with our reiatsu and father will come looking for us.” 

“The game will be over quickly then, try to hide from me and without even actively looking for any of you, I’ll already have found each of you within a second.” 

Giving Aizen a deliberate stare at his unnecessary gloating, he continued urging Daichi, “Father knows not to cheat and won’t be using any reiatsu to search for us like trying to find targets on a radar.” 

“If...I don’t forget.” Aizen chuckled evilly in answer. 

Koichi shoved himself in between Kisuke and his brother in order to tell him, “But! You will be teaching me, right?” 

“What have I told you?” Granted he still knew the answer, but a whined, “Buuut! I can’t hide like that.” 

“Oh yes, you can.” Kisuke concluded happily, involuntarily annoying his son even more, whom moped around, not even trying to look for a hiding spot as soon as Aizen started his countdown. 

He took Daichi by the hand, because even after explaining the general rules of ‘Hide and seek’ the kid seemed a little confused and kept standing plainly behind Aizen. 

Looking for a hiding spot should have been easy, since he had plenty of choices inside of his house. But he still went for the basement on their first round and while climbing down the ladder he heard Aizen telling Koichi in between his countdown, “Eight...keep moving and stop talking or I’ll be finding you even quicker.” confirming that Koichi was still vocally making his disagreements known. 

He shunpo’d up the ladder again, in order to yell outside of the general direction he was trying to hide with Daichi, “Aizen, could you add another 20 seconds?” 

“It will have no effect on your chances whatso-” 

“Play by the rules!” He stressed lightly, since that’s something they should be teaching their sons, yet the father himself wasn't exactly familiar with that principle either. 

Huge rocks galore in his underground training field, so behind one of those, he hid with Daichi. 

Of course this wasn’t exactly the most top secret spot, but the idea behind the game was a great lesson for the kids in order to learn how to hide their pressure. Because telling Daichi to try and meditate, so he could calm down his reiatsu levels, while explaining Aizen was going to come look for them, had his son’s reiatsu giving peeks of pressure bursts at random intervals like a flickering flashlight in the dark, easily giving away their hiding spot. 

And when he finally managed to encourage Daichi to get that somewhat under control, Koichi invaded their hiding space. Whom almost deliberately seemed to bait in Aizen. Koichi was naturally a little more hyper and not as easy to calm down as his brother, but it became obvious fairly quickly that he was doing it on purpose. 

His son shuffled over on his knees, doing a poor job of playing the game when his voice was still as loud as could be, “If I don’t get the Kidou, than I’m telling on you.” a finger was jabbed in Kisuke’s direction as emphasis. 

“That’s not really nice, don’t you want to prove yourself to me that you’re worthy of being taught that particular spell?” 

“Yes,” Koichi griped. “you teach me!” 

When Aizen suddenly popped up from behind the rock, looming above them, Daichi almost jumped up when the little one had just opened his eyes during his mediation. 

“I’m not really an expert in hide and seek, but a word of advice here; being quiet would help you a lot further.” 

“I know...” Kisuke responded exaggeratedly to Aizen’s statement, before asking the brunet, “Can we try this again, because someone here did not understand the ‘point’ of the game.” 

“I did!” 

Kisuke ignored Koichi’s backtalk and shunpo’d quickly to the coatrack upstairs to get Koichi’s reiatsu concealing cloak. -He had made one for both of the twins just in case they would come in handy one day. 

Afterwards he rejoined the other three downstairs in the basement, where Koichi had started bugging Aizen again for the kidou-spell. Urging his defiant son to shrug on the coat, Kisuke told Daichi, whom was curiously watching his actions, “Your brother is still only three years old, that’s why he needs a coat that will help him douse his reiatsu. Since Koichi is too young to hide his reiatsu in a mature way, like kids his age should normally know the basics off, at least.” 

Well, basics was a little over dramatisation, but he knew that Koichi was capable of making an effort in concealing his reiatsu. He just needed the right sort of motivation, that’s all. 

Though when his twin brother chuckled coyly, Koichi yelled a, “Don’t laugh!” at his brother. 

Kisuke was long since trying to get the zipper of Koichi’s coat up, when the kid began to effectively struggle out of the material. 

“I don’t need that!” 

“Ah, you don’t? You’re able to hide your reiatsu then?” 

His son continued forcefully trying to get out of the coat, instead of just responding to Kisuke. When he finally escaped out of the cloth he practically threw it on the floor in spite, only to kick at in a last attempt to show his contempt for the coat. 

“You’re going to play the game correctly?” 

No answer, except an angry glare was all he received. 

“Koichi,” At Aizen’s call, the little one reluctantly glanced the brunet’s way while still trying to fiercely stare in Kisuke’s direction. “controlling your reiatsu is the most crucial step in learning kidou-” 

“I can already do kidou.” 

“Basic kidou. Which at your age, I had already surpassed, I could practically move mountains just by a snap of my reiatsu.” 

Kisuke couldn’t help the teeny tiny snort at Aizen’s ‘small’ bluff to which he got a nasty side eye of said brunet. And Kisuke just had to add in his own two cents to that exaggeration, “Pff...I could practically solve complex fractions by the age of three.” 

“Don’t exaggerate.” Aizen muttered briefly his way before focusing back on their son. 

It was only him? He was exaggerating? 

Actually, did it really matter who accomplished what at what age? It was maybe even best not to disagree too much with each other in the presence of their children, because the twins had already sadly accomplished the art of contradiction. 

“Are you going to try to play the game by its rules?” 

“Fine!” 

And so they tried a second time. And Koichi more or less put some effort into hiding his reiatsu, sure it was still unwillingly done so, affecting his pressure in a negative way anyhow, but, he did as he was told. 

Kisuke still helped Daichi with a hiding spot, and this time no pesky twin brother gave away their location. Everything went fairly well after that, well, right up until Koichi was found before them. The contradictory demon inside of his son came up again to plainly state that he was done with the game. 

Being found first would mean that person had to seek next which was not to Koichi’s liking at all. 

When Kisuke offered himself up, the kid was quick to rejoin the game again, betraying that he was deliberately being wayward. 

Though what Koichi didn’t know was that Aizen was quite stubborn as well. While Kisuke would have let that slip the first time, Aizen absolutely did not tolerate Koichi’s behaviour and their son was practically forced by the brunet to do the countdown. 

Meaning Kisuke would definitely be regarded as lenient in the eyes of their children, since kids figured that out pretty quickly. 

He was even going to help Daichi again with a hiding place, though Aizen sent the little one on his way to go look for a hiding spot himself. 

Kisuke watched their son shuffling around with his plushy under an arm, looking more lost than actually enjoying the game. He himself was already hiding in one of his closets and he could spy on their little lost sheep through the crack in the slider door. It was quite sad actually and as he was just about to go help Daichi anyways, Aizen crammed himself inside of the closet as well. 

“What are you doing here?” he asked the brunet in an accusing whisper. “You’re a good one; ‘you can’t hide with two people somewhere’ and here you are, stealing my spot.” 

“You’re too soft on them, you’re forgetting that you’re dealing with Shinigami children.” 

He tried to push the other out of the closet, because there was hardly any room for two full-grown men. Besides having Aizen this close was...a little too confronting. “And you’re forgetting that they have dealt with some serious traumas already. Also they didn’t grow up in a war, Aizen, don’t forget that. They’re allowed to be kids.” 

“Mph!” Though the brunet forcefully pushed him back against the wall of the closet, practically squishing Kisuke inside of the rack of clothes where he also lost his hat in the process... “At least turn around then!” 

He could mould himself against Aizen’s back that way. Which was a lot safer...since the darkness and the other breathing into his face made him anticipate a kiss any second. And that had made him antsy for some reason... 

Not that the new position was a that much better choice. Due to only being able to see the general shadow of his companion, he had blindingly grasped at Aizen the second he had misplaced his foot somewhere. Presumably around the general direction of the other’s middle, but it was more along the sides of his hips by the feel of it. And that stupid white dress that Aizen just had to wear was a very thin material, making him just ‘unconsciously’ get a good ‘cop a feel’ out of his situation. 

Well...if Aizen just had to cram into a tight location with him, Kisuke might as well get something out of it. 

Though knowing Aizen, that was probably his intention all along... 

To say that he was glad that Koichi found them fairly easy was an understatement. He had - for the sake of not making the game too hard on the twins- doused his reiatsu to a low pit, and not entirely hidden it. But his intimate position had maybe betrayed some certain aroused spikes in his pressure either way which was not entirely meant to happen. 

But whatever... 

Daichi surprisingly enough had not been found yet, the kid’s pressure was practically all sealed up. Which reminded Kisuke of the times when Daichi suddenly decided to hide for the rest of the evening. Apparently if Daichi forgot the concept of the game, the little one became an expert at hide and seek. 

When they finally did find Daichi -stuck in the washing machine- Kisuke informed Aizen of his rather too strict manner in which he had told Daichi off, since the little one could get frightened quickly. 

-0- 

He spotted Aizen busying himself around in the kitchen sometime after their hide and seek. The twins were a little less hyper that time around: Daichi was napping on the couch while his favourite program was stuck on repeat, and his twin brother was voluntarily doing some fractions to show Kisuke that he was capable of solving the complex ones just as well. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Cooking, well, an attempt at cooking actually. But, how difficult could it be, mmh?” Pots and pans were being shuffled around in his cupboards, explaining the ruckus that had attracted Kisuke to the kitchen in the first place. 

Not that he was afraid that Aizen would burn down his kitchen or anything, but...he preferred preparing dinner himself. Besides he had come to enjoy preparing meals for the family. 

“Aha, I was actually planning on making some vegetarian stir fry.” 

When Aizen bent over to get something out of the lowest cupboards, Kisuke was reminded of the pleasant view that dress like thing could provide. The white thin material made it almost see through, especially when it was stretched taut as it was right now and Aizen’s ass was actually nicely on display. 

But as soon as the brunet stood back up, Kisuke redirected his gaze immediately on Aizen’s face instead. Since giving the brunet a reason to tease him was the last thing the other needed encouragement for. 

Though Aizen’s eyes were fixated on browsing through the cookbook he had just retrieved from the cupboards. “Stirring and mixing some ingredients can hardly be called cooking, you’re not preparing one of your experiments, Kisuke.” 

That nice view evaporated instantly as Aizen stirred another sort of desire inside of him with that statement; the need to prove him wrong. 

“What was that? Are you disappointed with my cooking?” 

He never had been a five star chef, he wouldn’t deny that, since Tessai had been responsible for the meals. But, he applauded himself on making a decent dinner, at least. 

“You didn’t like what I cooked yesterday? Funny, your plate was empty though.” 

The brunet shrugged. “Yes, I did that out of respect.” he then glanced at Kisuke briefly to state, “Because I have manners.” 

“Could have fooled me...” he muttered quietly. Whether Aizen had heard that or not, the brunet ignored him anyways. “Besides, given that this is indeed your first attempt at it, then my meals would still taste loads better than yours’s.” 

“I doubt it, I’m a perfectionist.” 

He snorted... Silently leaving Aizen in that perfectionistic haze of his to inspect the brunet’s lightly bend over posture again. Just out of curiosity of course, since it seemed as if Aizen wasn’t wearing any underwear underneath. Although that could have just been wishful thinking... 

“...we could let them judge.” when he was aware that Aizen was muttering something other than the general instructions of the recipe, he looked up again, only to come face to face with a very suspicious arched eyebrow. 

“Could you repeat that? I was a little...lost.” 

“Mmhmm.” The brunet looked down at himself, as if he knew exactly where Kisuke’s gaze had been wandering off to. “How about a contest? We both prepare something and let our children be the judge.” 

Now **that** actually didn’t sound so bad. It was after all the perfect opportunity to avert his focus on anything else except Aizen’s clothes. 

Deciding on a recipe had taken some time; they had to agree of course... but the general preparation had went without any unnecessary hassle, since they were both focused. A brag here or there in order to distract the other, sure, but besides that, everything went relatively smoothly. 

And then came the moment supreme; who was the better cook? 

They hadn’t informed the twins of their challenge, just merely stated that they needed to sample both dishes and then give their opinion on which tasted better. 

Though unfortunately it had been a very anticlimactic ending when both of the twins pointed to a different dish. Koichi favoured his, and Daichi favoured Aizen’s, so their challenge couldn’t exactly be called a success. Because getting the kids to vote unanimously was just impossible. 

-0- 

“Yoruichi!” Kisuke said in a hushed whisper to the cat outside in their garden that had called him over with a stretched out paw. 

Not that it would have mattered if Aizen had found out, but the not so secretive shift in shape told him that she had some news. 

“Your highly psychotic son just chased me with a machete.” 

It was harder to spot any genuine emotion on a cat’s face, since felines generally already had an impish snout. But as he had a lot of experience dealing with this feline, he could safely judge that was not true. 

“That’s not funny.” 

The cat licked it’s paw nonchalantly while balanced on his fencing. 

“You were worried there for minute though.” 

He had reasons after all; Koichi was capable of that no doubt if he was left unsupervised. 

“But, that’s not why I’m here for.” The male voice placated. 

“I figured.” 

“In two days Mayuri will have to appear in front of Central 46.” 

Finally... the Seireitei took their sweet time, probably to sweep the rest of any evidence under a rug. “Behind closed doors?” 

“It will be private, but since your kids were a ‘victim’ you’re allowed to be there in their place.” 

Judging by Yoruichi’s tone on that single word, his twins weren’t seen as that at all. 

Even if he had been waiting on the chance to see and hear Mayuri’s reasons, he was beginning to dread the actual confrontation anyhow. Mayuri wouldn't be confessing to his deeds, it’s likely that any evidence thrown at him during his trial would immediately be dismissed whatsoever. 

It was going to be if anything, definitely no an easy trial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have maybe done this in the beginning of the story, but I made Daichi and Koichi in the sims 4, so you have a general idea of what they should look like. If you're interested, definitely visit my tumblr to see them! https://fluffychanel1.tumblr.com


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